HELENA — Brian Knight, for the first time since his father passed away in 2021, returned to Kindrick Legion Field, the springboard for a professional career that reached its pinnacle last fall.
Inside the stadium’s green walls, Knight was first exposed to a profession he’s spent over two decades perfecting. It was where Knight played American Legion baseball, sometimes with Jim officiating behind the plate or in the field, and where he umpired with his greatest inspiration.
Wednesday, between games of a conference doubleheader against Bozeman, Knight presented his father’s namesake honor – the Jim Knight Memorial Award – to Helena Senators second baseman Brayden Beatty. Shaped like home plate, the plague mirrored dishes Jim toiled behind for over 30 years.
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“As far back as I can remember, I was coming to games here,” Brian said. “We’d stop by and see the umpires before every game, or after every game…
“The professional guys I got to know as a young man. Some of those guys I ended up working with in the big leagues. Being around that culture of the professional really made a huge impression on me.”
Chosen as the Senators player who “best demonstrates integrity, sportsmanship, character, and Jim’s passion for the game of baseball,” Beatty is the third all-time recipient, joining Tyler Tenney and Walker Bennett.
Helena Senators second baseman Brayden Beatty was honored with the third annual Jim Knight Memorial Award on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, between games of a conference doubleheader against Bozeman. Beatty was selected as the Senators player who “best demonstrates integrity, sportsmanship, character, and Jim’s passion for the game of baseball.”
“Knowing dad like I do, I think he would’ve loved it,” Brian said.
“He’d be crying his eyes out right now. If I stop and think about it too much, I will too.”
Beatty is a second generation Senator, the son of 1989 Senators batting champion Joe Beatty.
He entered play hitting .353 with a .957 OPS, but went hitless in a 4-0 victory and 12-6 loss to the Bucks Wednesday.
“It’s a great honor,” Beatty said. “It’s a newer award, but being in the same category as guys like Walker Bennett and Tyler Tenney is always good.”
Helena Senators second baseman Brayden Beatty was honored with the third annual Jim Knight Memorial Award on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, between games of a conference doubleheader against Bozeman. Beatty was selected as the Senators player who “best demonstrates integrity, sportsmanship, character, and Jim’s passion for the game of baseball.”
The nightcap defeat snapped Helena’s (36-13, 14-3 conference) 16-game win streak, but the Senators maintained an inside track for the No. 1 seed in the upcoming 2024 Class AA state tournament.
Having pocketed the head-to-head tiebreaker over second-place Billings Scarlets (15-4 conf.), Helena faces a conference rubber match against third-place Missoula (11-6 conf.) on Thursday. Fourth-place Billings Royals (11-8 conf.) visit Kindrick Legion Field next week for a three-game set.
“Sixteen [games] in a row is a heck of an accomplishment,” Senators head coach Jon Burnett said. “This is a crazy game where it’s tough to be sharp every day…
“To win sixteen in a row, we were pretty close to sharp in all 16 of them…It’s gonna happen [just gotta] bounce back and be ready for these important conference games coming up.”
Helena’s Will Lyng fired his fifth seven-inning complete game of the season in Game 1.
The right-hander tied a season-high nine strikeouts and won his program-best 14th contest.
Helena Senators right-hander Will Lyng tied a season-high with nine strikeouts in a complete game shutout in Game 1 of a conference doubleheader against Bozeman on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Lyng, chasing Rande Muffick’s single-season ERA record (1.15), owns a 1.21 ERA entering the regular-season’s final two weeks.
Catcher Connor Devine, who entered play 16 for his last 33 at the plate, broke a scoreless Game 1 tie with a three-run triple in the third inning. Devine added two more hits and an RBI in Game 2, and is now slashing .516/.531/.774/1.305 in 32 July plate appearances.
“The opportunity to keep getting at-bats, for sure,” Devine said. “To know I’m gonna be in there no matter what and I just gotta hit the ball, that helped a lot.”
