Delph threw a complete game 3-hitter and accepted the championship plaque during the awards ceremony. A short time later it was announced he had been named the tournament’s most valuable player after posting a pair of wins on the mound during the five-day event and allowing just seven hits in 13 innings of action.

Belgrade (32-10) finished 4-1 during the tournament, including a 10-4 win against the Billings Blue Jays in Friday’s undefeated semifinal that clinched the team’s berth in the championship game. While the Bandits lost a meaningless game to Glacier on Saturday, Delph knew the team would bounce back Sunday.

“Even after the loss last night I don’t think anyone had a doubt in their mind that we weren’t going to come out here and play the game like we should,” he said.

Prior to Delph being announced as MVP, center fielder Aidan Kulbeck was named the tournament’s batting champion. He batted .429 with nine RBI’s during the weekend, including a grand slam in the team’s tournament-opening victory against Mission Valley.

“It feels amazing. I’ve never felt this in my life,” Kulbeck said of winning state. “We came close a couple times, took third a lot, but this team was different. Me and four other super seniors, we came back knowing that this was the team, and this team was special.”

The Bandits came up one victory shy of playing in the state championship game year ago after being knocked out of the tournament by the Billings Cardinals. Kulbeck and his fellow seniors — Cale Livergood, Gavin Waters, and Russell — quickly decided after that loss they’d return as super seniors.

“We lost a tough game at state last year and immediately all the super seniors came together and we knew that the team next year was going to be extra special,” Kulbeck explained. “We all put a pact that we were coming back and we were going to get it done next year.”

Sunday’s victory didn’t come easy, however. After the Dodgers beat Glacier 3-2 in the consolation game, they nearly rode the arm of Beau Mares to the title.

Mares kept the Bandits off balance for much of the game, allowing just three hits before being relieved in the sixth, and Belgrade trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth. Laurel scored a run in the third on a sacrifice fly and then another in the fifth on a throwing error by third baseman Josh Arrants on what should have been a routine ground out.

Jace Buchanan had reached base on a two-out single and then scored from first when Arrants threw low to first on a ground ball by Reece Dolechek. But Arrants redeemed himself in the bottom half of the frame.

After Ryas Olson reached base on an error and then Keenan Kraft was hit by a pitch to put a pair of runners on base, Arrants singled to left drive them in after they had advanced on a double steal.

“Josh didn’t come through with the play in the field,” said Delph. “I told him he’s going to have an at-bat and he came through and made a huge hit for the team and scored two runs. From there it just steamrolled and kept the momentum for the rest of the game.”

Belgrade loaded the bases in the sixth and took the lead, 3-2, when Gavin Waters scored on a squeeze bunt from third with Olson at the plate. Then Kraft flew out to center on the next at-bat and Brayton VanDyken scored from third to make it a two-run game.

Although the Bandits struggled to get a run across the plate early, Delph had no doubt the team would come through in the end.

“I feel like everyone says it, Belgrade never quits, they’ve always got fight,” he said. “Coaches notice it, other teams notice it, fans notice it.”

Second-year Bandits manager Ryan Johnerson noted the significance of what his players had just accomplished.

“No one can ever take away a state championship,” he said. “They can put it on their resume the rest of their lives. We talk about it all the time, but until you get it and obtain — they don’t realize yet how important it is to say, ‘Hey, future boss, I was on a state championship team.’”

Belgrade advances the to the Northwest Class A Regional Tournament for the first time, which begins Wednesday in Havre. Johnerson said team would have a light practice Monday, work on a few things, and then approach the tournament like any other.

“To us it will be just another tournament,” he said. “Game 1’s important, you got to win it, like, there’s a systematic way we approach tournaments and I don’t think it’s going to change.”