(EDITOR'S NOTE: After publication of this story, Dehler Park was flooded by a late afternoon storm, according to Billings America Legion Baseball Chairman Jeff Ballard. Due to circumstances, all four opening round games on Wednesday have been moved to Pirtz Field.)
BILLINGS — Fans eager to catch fantastic American Legion baseball Wednesday through Sunday will likely be planted at Dehler Park.
This marks the first time in over a decade Billings will host the Class AA Northwest Regional tournament with the winner advancing to this summer's Legion baseball World Series Aug. 15-20 in Shelby, N.C.
This week's regional field is filled with eight teams; two of them from Montana. The Billings Scarlets are this year's host team after recently finishing third at the Montana/Alberta state tournament. They’ll open against Fort Collins, Colorado, in Wednesday’s late game around 7 p.m.
The Missoula Mavericks are hot right now and represent Big Sky Country as state champs after battling back to beat Helena twice in the championship series. The Mavs draw Wednesday’s 4 p.m. showdown against Bellevue, Washington.
The four additional teams are state champions from Anchorage, Alaska, Pocatello, Idaho, Eugene, Oregon, and Cheyenne, Wyoming.
And every so often a Major League Baseball prospect appears in this tournament. New York Mets all-star Brandon Nimmo — in the midst of an eight-year contract worth $162 million — played for Cheyenne when Dehler Park hosted the regional back in 2011. Billings also hosted in 2012 and will do so again next summer.
Cheyenne won last year's Northwest Regional becoming Wyoming's first Class AA team to reach the American Legion World Series, advancing all the way to the national semifinal.
Also of interest, Tagg Lain, the current coach of Colorado’s state champs from Fort Collins, happens to be Cheyenne's former coach.
First pitch of this year's tournament is set for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday between Cheyenne and Eugene.
