Amazing season for Gallatin Valley Outlaws

A magical season came to an end last Wednesday for the Gallatin Valley Outlaws.

The Outlaws finished their season with a heartbreaking 15-14 loss to host the Bitterroot Red Sox at the Montana/Alberta American Legion Class A State Tournament in Florence. A win by Gallatin Valley would have sent them into the championship game against eventual winner Vauxhall (Canada).

The squad who plays their home games in Three Forks finished the season with a 42-16 record and won the district tournament in July in Bozeman.

Assistant Coach Ryan Murphy said it was a great season winning the district and Lewistown Tournaments and he could not be any prouder of the team and the way they competed day in and day out.

"This group of kids was fun to coach all year I'm bummed for it to come to an end but all great teams runs stop somewhere and only one team gets to hold that State trophy and unfortunately that wasn't us," he said.

The Outlaws opened the state tournament with a 6-3 victory over Lewistown. In their following game they fell 9-7 to Laurel. Murphy said they were down 7-1 in the sixth against Laurel but battled back to tie it before some costly defensive plays cost them in the 9-7 loss.

The Outlaws would respond in emphatic fashion in their next game picking up a 10-0 win over Dillon. There offensive surge continued last Tuesday with a 14-4 victory over the eventual state champions Vauxhall Spurs.

After trailing 6-3 in their game Tuesday against Bitterroot, the Outlaws would score 10 consecutive runs to take a 13-6 lead before eventually falling 15-14.

"Bucs came out on top and I got to give it to them they came into the tournament as the underdogs losing out in districts and getting automatic qualifying state berth because they were hosting and they got hot at the right time and sent home 3 number 1 seeds. I'm super proud of my guys though for that game because they fought, they could of laid over and been done when we were down 6-2 but they fought their way back and at the end of the day the ball rolled the wrong way and that's just the way baseball goes," Murphy said. "Our guys have no reason to hang their heads after this season after finishing 3rd at state. I know that our team knows we were better than who we got eliminated by but again the Bucs were hot and played great baseball all weekend."

Gallatin Valley will lose six seniors from this year's squad.

"This team has 6 seniors that are going to be missed. They lead the team by example this state tournament and hopefully set the tone for the younger kids to follow coming up through the program," he said.

Connor Johnson (Whitehall), Michael Nehring, Michael Jones, Kyle Grevious, Dalton Mitchell and Hunter Johnson were the six seniors on the squad.

Murphy said Connor Johnson had a great run this season with many defensive plays that stopped big innings and he ended the year with 40 stolen bases and a .400 batting average.

"It's Pretty hard to find kids who excel at all three assets of the game and he was one who did," Murphy said.

Looking to the future, Murphy said the team had many sophomores that helped them including on the mound Patrick Dietz, Bo Hays (Whitehall), and Caleb Kamerman. Whitehall's Tucker Miller will also return after missing a good portion of the year due to injury.

Murphy added sophomores Gabe Delgatty and Isaac Richardson of Manhattan stepped up and had big moments at the plate.

"I'm Looking forward to seeing them bat in the heart of the order next year. I enjoyed every moment this summer and definitely was a good first coaching experience for me," Murphy said.