By Danny Waldo
While they may not admit it, several Bozeman Buck baseball players had thoughts of redemption on their mind when the 2019 American Legion baseball season kicked off back in April.
Failure will do that to a person.
Bozeman entered the 2018 Montana/Alberta AA state championships as the No. 1 seeded team after finishing as the runner-up in 2017, but after two consecutive losses, the Bucks could only wonder what could have been.
So it was that they began the 2019 season looking for payback, and after another strong season that saw the Bucks earn the No. 2 seed in this year’s state tournament redemption was there for attaining. “It’s kind of been in the back of our minds, especially mine, I want to win,” said senior outfielder Kelher Murfitt, referencing the previous two years of disappointments at state. “Especially this senior year, there’s six of us including me. It’s just been incredible.”
Mission accomplished.
Bozeman stormed through the 2019 Montana/Alberta AA state championship, winning their first title since 2007 and earning a trip to the Northwest Regional in Lewiston, Idaho. The Bucks out-scored the opposition 48-12 in going 5-0 during the tournament, atoning for their past failures.
“It’s the players, it’s the players, they’ve absolutely bought in,” said Garrett Schultz, who is in his second season as the Bucks head coach and his third in the Bozeman program. “It’s not just a coach-led team, it’s really become a players-led team, honestly. These guys worked so hard for each other, they support each other, they pick each other up, they hold each other accountable … that’s a big one. Everybody had the same goal, this was the goal, to go out and achieve this.”
Bozeman wasn’t happy just to win the state tournament, however. As of the deadline for this article, the Bucks were playing for the championship at the Northwest Regional tournament in Lewiston, Idaho, with a berth in the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina on the line.
Bozeman opened the regional by defeating Bellevue, Washington 5-2. The Bucks followed that up with a 5-0 shut out of Kennewick, Washington to move into the undefeated semifinal versus Medford, Oregon, where Bozeman won, yet again, 4-1, to secure a spot in the regional championship.
The Bucks were to square off versus the winner of Kennewick and Idaho Falls, with the winner advancing to the World Series, August 15-20.
