Watch the highlights from Day 1 of the Class AA state baseball tournament in Butte.


BUTTE, Mont. — The final four teams vying for the championship in the inaugural Class AA state baseball tournament at 3 Legends Stadium in Butte will be Glacier, Sentinel, Gallatin, and Billings West, following Thursday’s first-round action.

As the tournament has been condensed into a two-day event due to forecasted rain on Saturday, the Glacier/Sentinel and Gallatin/Billings West semifinal matchups will take place on Friday at 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, with the championship to follow at 7 p.m. Loser-out games will occur at 8 a.m. on Friday morning, with consolation games scheduled for 4 p.m. There will be no third-place game, and the consolation winners will share the third-place trophy.

3W Glacier defeats 2E CMR 12-1 (6 innings)

Thursday’s quarterfinals opened with Glacier knocking off CMR in six-inning run-rule fashion 12-1. The Wolfpack jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, gradually tacking on more runs before exploding for a 5-piece in the sixth and final frame. Teagan Dixon finished 3-for-3 with a walk, while senior catcher Brady Buckmaster drove in four.

1W Sentinel defeats 4E Bozeman 5-4 (9 innings)

Sentinel and Bozeman traded blows in a back-and-forth matchup, the Hawks leading 3-1 at one point before the Spartans entered the seventh inning with a 4-3 advantage. Bozeman’s Luke Sundel scored the necessary run to extend the game on a failed pickoff attempt at third, but Sentinel would walk off the game 5-4 in extras, with Trevor Johnson singling amid a bases-loaded situation.

1E Gallatin defeats Butte 4W Butte 18-7 (5 innings)

Thursday’s third game saw major stoppages, as lightning delayed the game for over three hours. This delay came after Gallatin jumped out to a massive 10-run advantage, the Raptors tallying 11 runs, six hits, and six walks in the first inning alone. Once play resumed, the Raptors would close out the run-rule victory 18-7.

3E Billings West defeats 2W Big Sky 15-10

Starting nearly three-and-a-half hours after its scheduled time due to weather and finishing well after midnight, the final contest on Thursday was a high-scoring affair, with the Golden Bears separating thanks in large part to an 8-run third inning. Dylan Mainwaring starred with a 3-for-4 day and four RBIs.