Have you ever seen a game end like this, let alone a championship game?!?

Billings West won the Montana State AA championship last Friday 3-2 over Missoula Big Sky on a final play that you’re more likely to see out of a Pee-Wee game.

Kendyl Boltz proved to be the unlikely hero as the No. 9 hitter, who was forced to miss most of the season with mononucleosis, actually struck out in the bottom of the seventh in a 2-2 game.

However, the ball rolled to the backstop and when the catcher fired to first the ball sailed out into right field foul territory.

The ball took a weird carom off a chain link fence allowing Boltz to head to second and then third.

Once the ball was retrieved, the throw to third was also wide of the mark and a hesitant Boltz, who almost slid into the bag, was waved home where she triumphantly jumped on home plate for the title-winning run.

Making the championship even more remarkable is the fact the Bears had to win five games on Friday coming up through the loser’s bracket.

The run almost ended in the third game of the day when West trailed by two going into the last inning but was able to win due to, once again, errors.

West had to beat Big Sky twice and pulled off both wins thanks to the amazing work of pitcher Jalen Creech, who put in 31 innings for the day and had nine strikeouts in the first championship game and 15 in the second.

One final note:  we did a profile of one of the Billings West players in April, Makenzie Shellnutt, in a piece called “Shellnut overcomes adversity… and miles.”  If you haven’t read it, you’ll definitely want to learn more about this dedicated athlete!

Also, here’s footage of the game-ending play that gave Billings West the title: