26 June 4 - 17, 2021
SPORTS
Explore Big Sky
Big Sky Royals wrap winning season PHOTOS BY DAVE PECUNIES
BY GABRIELLE GASSER BIG SKY – After a successful 2021 Big Sky Little League baseball season, the Big Sky Majors ended the regular season as number one ranked first seed with an 11-1 record. The post-season City Tournament was set to take place on May 26 but was cancelled due to bad weather. Now, AllStar play begins with nine Big Sky athletes qualified for the Belgrade League. Four players qualified form the Minors team, two qualified from the Majors team and three qualified from the Babe Ruth team. The Big Sky Royals Baseball Organization started back in 2015 with one team of Tee ball aged kids. Since then, the organization has grown to 65 players on four different levels of baseball: Rookies aged 7 to 8, Minors aged 9 to 10, Majors aged 11 to 12 and Babe Ruth aged 13 to 15. There
are four Rookies teams that stay in Big Sky to compete and one team for each remaining age group. The Minors, Majors and Babe Ruth team mostly compete in the Belgrade Baseball league and host some home games at the Big Sky Community Park. According to coach Matt Morris, this year was by far the largest in terms of number of players. Morris spearheads the Big Sky Royals and finds coaches and organizes teams. This year he coached the Majors, Vanessa Wilson coached the Rookies, Bart Mitchell coached the Minors and John McGuire coached Babe Ruth. “It is truly an honor to teach baseball to the kids in Big Sky,” Morris said. “It is a game that teaches you failure, patience and humility. Baseball has always been a constant in my life, and I am grateful to be able to share what I have learned.”
