HELENA — Lucas Harris-Huerta took his first cuts Saturday in the brown turf adjacent to Kindrick Legion Field’s batter’s boxes, staring down a tied game and the winning run at first.
The Butte High junior, a first-year Miner, didn’t expect to play, but a two-out rally to avoid a winless Keith Sell Tournament pool play record changed Harris-Huerta’s role from cheerleader to hero.
“Just gotta come through for the boys,” Harris-Huerta remembers thinking at the dish.
“Do what I can to get the win.”
Gavin Trudgeon swiped second three pitches into Harris-Huerta’s at-bat, popping up at third following a wild pitch three offerings later.
The next pitch, Harris-Huerta lined a 2-2 fastball over the second baseman’s head, snapping Butte’s five-game losing streak with a 9-8 triumph over Calgary.
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Harris-Huerta was mobbed by his teammates on the green synthetic turf behind first base.
“Amazing,” Harris-Huerta said. “No better feeling in the world right there.”
“He’s just clutch,” Butte head coach Jim LeProwse said. “He doesn’t get rattled…
“I got a few guys that I could’ve put up in that situation that I’d have been comfortable with, but he’s one of the guys that’s real self-confident. I knew he was the right guy for that situation.”
Butte (1-3 in pool play) awaits its tournament seeding and game time for Sunday.
Butte Miners outfielder Anthony Knott finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in a 9-8 walk-off victory over Calgary during Keith Sell Tournament pool play on Saturday, June 29, 2024, at Kindrick Legion Field.
Playing with high school Gatorade Player of the Year Cayde Stajcar (travel team), the Miners collected 11 hits. Ethan Cunningham and Zack O’Connell enjoyed two-hit contests.
O’Connell supplied the two-out seventh-inning RBI single to set up Harris-Huerta’s heroics.
“That was a great way to end [the losing streak],” LeProwse said.
“Bunch of guys stepped up, came off the bench, and made plays for us.”
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