Optimist Club captures Babe Ruth title

Over the weekend, six more games were played on the road to the Havre Youth Baseball Association Babe Ruth championship.

Friday through Sunday Legion Field in Havre was the home of the Babe Ruth tournament, where Chinook, Rocky Boy, Optimist, Wells Fargo and Northern Montana Hospital all competed in the double elimination tournament.

And after the baseball-packed weekend was finally in the books, it was the Optimist ball club that came away with the No. 1 spot. Sunday, in the championship game, Optimist defeated Wells Fargo 19-0 in four innings. In Sunday's first game Wells Fargo defeated Northern Montana Hospital 18-17 in seven innings to earn a bid to the championship game.

Also taking place over the weekend, Northern Montana Hospital defeated Wells Fargo 17-7 in five innings on Friday. And also on Friday, Chinook knocked Rocky Boy out of the tournament with a four-inning, 18-1 victory.

On Saturday, Optimist defeated Northern Montana Hospital 16-6 in five innings. And in Saturday's second game, Wells Fargo knocked Chinook out of the running with a 14-3 win in four innings of play.

When Northern Montana Hospital and Wells Fargo met on Sunday both teams had one tournament loss under their belts. And with a spot in the championship game still up for grabs, both teams battled.

Wells Fargo took an early 5-0 lead and stretched it to 7-1 after three innings of play. But in the bottom of the fourth Northern Montana Hospital bounced back with a three-hit, sevenrun inning to take an 8-7 lead.

Wells Fargo regained the lead at 13-8, but both teams found themselves knotted up at 13-13 after six innings were in the books.

In the top of the seventh, Wells Fargo got the bats moving once again.

They scored five runs on three hits, including a two RBI double by Ramsey Drew and an RBI single by J.J. Hovet.

Wells Fargo was able to hold out for the win, despite Northern Montana Hospital scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

In Sunday's championship matchup, Optimist dominated the ballgame.

Wells Fargo was playing in its second game of the evening, but couldn't keep up with the competition after a threehour battle with Northern Montana Hospital.

Optimist quickly went up 14-0 in the bottom of the first inning. They used five hits, nine walks, two Wells Fargo errors and seven Wells Fargo wild pitches to roll through their lineup over two complete times and to promptly put the game out of reach.

In the top of the third, Wells Fargo got its first base runner when Shelby Evans earned his way aboard. But the Optimist defense earned two straight outs to end the threat. Drew got the only hit for Wells Fargo, coming in the top of the seventh by way of a single.

Optimist stretched its lead to 17-0 in the bottom of the second inning, and then to 19-0 in the bottom of the third.

The Optimist defense then took care of the Wells Fargo batters one, two, three in the top of the fourth to end the game on the mercy rule.

Kirby Sands, Jake Williams, Nate Welch, Timmy Welch, Derek VanDessel, Dane Linquist, Aidan Suedahl and Kyle Gooch all had at least one hit in the Optimist win.