Senators defeat Scarlets to move to Championship Sunday
It wouldn’t have felt right any other way. A one-run decision, the tournament’s seventh, to set the 2024 Class AA championship.
When Nolan Berkram’s bases-loaded line drive pounded off the left field wall in the seventh, Helena’s faithful packed into Kindrick Legion Field sighed relief.
Bohden Bahnmiller, on the mound, did the same. A few feet higher and Billings would’ve walked its way into another do-or-die game Sunday.
Instead, Bahnmiller retired three of the next four Scarlets, the final one with the game’s tying run 90 feet away, to preserve the Senators’ third tournament victory by the slimmest of margins.
“Through the roof,” Bahnmiller said of his seventh-inning nerves. “I had to take a second to clear my head. God, my mind was running. That last out felt so good.”
Missoula (52-26) needs to beat Helena (44-17) twice Sunday to keep the Senators from repeating as state champions. Helena simply one victory to claim its third title in four seasons.
“They’ve got an edge to them this year,” Senators head coach Jon Burnett said of Missoula.
“They’re gonna come out ready to play and wanna take us down on our field. Gotta make the routine plays and throw the ball over the plate and compete.”
