MISSOULA — The 2023 Montana-Alberta American Legion Baseball Class AA state tournament gets under way Saturday at Linborg-Cregg Field with eight teams vying for a championship and a berth at the Northwest Regional tourney in Gillette, Wyoming.
The state tourney opens with a matchup between the No. 3 seed Great Falls Electrics (30-26 overall, 13-11 Class AA) taking on the sixth-seeded Bozeman Bucks (25-32, 10-14) at 10 a.m. The winner will advance forward to Sunday to face either the No. 2 Billings Scarlets (40-13, 17-7) or the Kalispell Lakers (34-21, 10-14), who square off at 4 p.m.
The top-seeded Helena Senators (48-14, 18-6) play the No. 8 seed Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs (20-22, 9-15) at 1 p.m. The fourth-seeded Billings Royals (32-28, 12-12) are the defending state champions. They will play the fifth-seeded tourney hosts, the Missoula Mavericks (34-35, 12-12), in Saturday's nightcap at 7 p.m.
The all-important undefeated semifinal will be played Tuesday at 4 p.m., with the winner advancing to Wednesday's championship game at 1 p.m. needing one more win to clinch the crown. A second title game will be played if necessary.
The state champion will move on to the Northwest Regional, which will be held at Hladky Memorial Stadium in Gillette for the third consecutive year Aug. 2-6. Following are the first-round pairings for the Montana-Alberta state tourney:
Montana-Alberta American Legion State Tournament
at Missoula
First-round pairings
Saturday
(Double elimination; overall records in parentheses)
No. 6 Bozeman (25-32) vs. No. 3 Great Falls (30-26), 10 a.m.
No. 8 Medicine Hat (20-22) vs. No. 1 Helena (48-14), 1 p.m.
No. 7 Kalispell (34-21) vs. No. 2 Billings Scarlets (40-13), 4 p.m.
No. 5 Missoula (34-35) vs. No. 4 Billings Royals (32-28), 7 p.m.
