By Scott Roblin

Knights rally in seventh inning to win home tournament title

Jul 2, 2017 | 7:34 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – For the second straight game the Medicine Hat K of C Knights engineered an incredible comeback, and this time in came in the championship final of their home tournament.

Squaring off against the Calgary Blues on Sunday afternoon, the Knights advanced to the finals thanks to a walk-off victory over Fort MacLeod earlier in the day.

Calgary hit the score sheet first in the bottom of the second inning following an error by Knights second baseman Ethan Bartram to take a 1-0 advantage.

That lead was short-lived for the Blues though, as Ashtyn Street cranked a line drive to left field bringing Joel Herron around the bases.

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Bottom of the third inning tied at 1-1, a pass ball through the wickets of the Knights’ catcher allowed a Calgary runner to score from third to take a 2-1 lead.

The Knights responded in the top of the sixth inning, with first baseman Theryn Berndt scoring on an error by Calgary’s right fielder to tie the game up once again.

Disaster seemed to strike Medicine Hat in the bottom of the sixth, as a hard hit ball towards shortstop Travis Small was bobbled and allowed two runs to cross home plate for Calgary to take a 4-2 lead.

Down to their final three outs the Knights called a team meeting between innings, something head coach Lane Aman was impressed with.

“We have the leadership in the infield to get the guys together,” said Aman. “They seemed real loose, real confident on defence after that little meeting there, so that’s good to see. The team’s got leadership, winning teams have good leadership.”

The hitting spread in the top of the seventh with three straight singles by the Knights loading the bases, with Keon Vereschagin flying out to centre field and scoring Street to bring Medicine Hat within one run.

With runners on second and third, an error from the Blues brought home Zach Stark and Small to give the Knights the lead.

Berndt then singled to bring in Ethan Boutkan from second base to put the Knights up 6-4 with the Blues needing a huge seventh inning.

“I was kind of looking for a fast ball, middle-in,” said Berndt. “Something along those lines, something that I could drive, to drive in another run so we can have a little more insurance there.”

Easton Brooks finished off the Blues with a complete game, and clinched the UCT ‘A’ tournament championship for the K of C Knights.

Brooks pitched a full seven innings, striking out six while allowing four runs, none of which were earned, on five hits.

Aman said like a snowball, the team’s offence just kept picking up momentum as the game went along.

“These guys are all tight, they all love each other and they get real pumped up around each other’s successes,” he said. “So, when one guy gets on, they can get enough energy going and then hitting becomes contagious.”

Meanwhile, it was an up and down pair of games for the Saamis Rotary Majestics on Sunday as they played a double-header in Lethbridge against the Lakers.

Dylan Fauth and Adam Klick each had a pair of RBIs in a 10-5 victory over the Lakers in the opener, but the Majestics fell 11-8 in the back-half.

As for the Moose Monarchs, they finish off their tournament in Spokane, Washington against Gonzaga Prep on Sunday evening.