Lethbridge Elks walk-off Missoula

By Lethbridge Herald on July 24, 2025.

Herald Photo by Nathan Reiter The Lethbridge Elks swarm Carter Mann after a walkoff double in the bottom of the seventh inning during "AA" American Legion baseball action at Lloyd Nolan Yard on Thursday night.

Nathan Reiter

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter-Lethbridge Herald 

The Lethbridge Elks forged the comeback trail in a 4-3 win over the Missoula Mavericks in Montana-Alberta “AA” American Legion baseball action at Lloyd Nolan Yard on Thursday night.

The Mavericks took the lead early scoring three runs in the top half of the first inning. 

Lethbridge would respond with single tallies in the second and sixth inning, before rallying to walk things off in the bottom of the seventh.

Carter Mann was the walk-off hero for the Elks with a two run double to seal the win. The hit came after Missoula made a couple of errors in the bottom of the seventh, including one at second base that gave the Elks an extra out to work with.

Elks head coach Scott Oikawa says it’s extremely important to take advantage of extra opportunities at the “AA” level.

“We’ve been preaching that all year and we’ve been on the other end of that, so it is nice to finally be able to capitalize on some opportunities and shut them down there and the sixth was huge too to keep close.”

Offensively, the Elks were led by Fawkes Bruinsma who had three hits, including a double. Lowen Kitagawa also had two knocks for Lethbridge.

Jesse-James Olson got the nod on the mound for Lethbridge and the right-hander shined, throwing a complete game allowing three runs on seven hits while not issuing a free pass.

Oikawa says Olson got better as the game went along.

“He was great, they found some barrels early and he definitely made some adjustments. I thought him and Tak (Willis Takahashi) did a nice job today mixing things up and the defense was solid.”

In other American Legion action Thursday, the  Lethbridge Lakers and Miners were at the Northern District “A” tournament in Lewistown. The Lakers split their two games on the day starting with a 4-1 win over the Great Falls Chargers before falling 12-6 to the top-seeded Havre Northstars. 

The Miners were taking on the host Lewistown Redbirds in the final game of the day. Results were not available as of press time.

The Elks return to action against Missoula with a single game at Lloyd Nolan Yard on Friday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.