Bucks take doubleheader from Elks

By Lethbridge Herald on June 30, 2025.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Elks Ben Puszkar attempts a check swing during American Legion 'AA' baseball action against the Bozeman Bucks on Monday at Spitz Stadium.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

After playing five games in the Helena tournament this past weekend, the Lethbridge Elks turned right around and played a doubleheader against the Bozeman Bucks in American Legion ‘AA’ baseball conference action on Monday at Spitz Stadium, in which they lost 8-4 and 6-0 respectively.

“I think you gotta give their pitching a little bit of credit, I thought they did a nice job,” said Scott Oikawa, Elks head coach.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t come out with our best effort today.”

Oikawa spoke about how he felt with the team’s batting and not enough quality hits.

“I think ( we)got some guys that were a little bit frustrated, things didn’t go well early, and  kinda  snowballed a little bit from there,” said Oikawa.

“They capitalized on some of our mistakes, and we didn’t capitalize on some of theirs.”

Both teams will battle in one more game today beginning at 11.a.m. at Lloyd Nolan Yard.

“We have to find a way to dig deep and come up with a quality effort against that club,” said Oikawa.

Oikawa thinks the Elks season started well but have had trouble staying consistent in games.

“We’ve lacked a little consistency in all facets of the game this last few weeks and hopefully we can rectify that (and) find a way to put it all together and play some quality baseball in July,” said Oikawa.

Tyler Risling was the losing pitcher in the first game for the Elks, while Carter Bevans took the loss in the second game.

Ben Puszkar had two hits in the first game for Lethbridge.

Lakers

The Lethbridge Lakers ‘A’ team split their conference games with the Fort Macleod Royals on Sunday.

The Royals took the first game 7-4 and the Lakers won the second game by the same score.

Miners

The Lethbridge Miners opened their four-game road  trip this past weekend with a split with the Fort Macleod Royals on Saturday.

The Royals took the first game 13-3 while Miners edged the Royals in the second game 7-5.

Lethbridge then dropped both of their games in Havre by 12-2 and 17-16 scores respectively on Sunday.