MISSOULA — The third annual Paddleheads High School Baseball Showcase wrapped up Saturday at Ogren Park at Allegiance Field. For the first time, the event was expanded to three days as 14 programs fielded teams.
There are now 35 high school baseball teams across Montana, as America's pastime continues to grow in the Treasure State, especially in western Montana, which boasts the sport's first two state champions. Polson won the inaugural high school baseball championship in 2023, and Florence won the 2024 title.
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With the immediate success in the Flathead and Bitterroot valleys, high school baseball felt like a long time coming for schools in Missoula.
And this year, Missoula Big Sky, Missoula Hellgate and Missoula Sentinel are fielding teams for the first time.
“It’s cool. I think it's something that everybody in the community has been waiting for for a long time," said Missoula Big Sky senior Kody Evans, a centerfielder, first baseman and pitcher. "It seems like a lot of people that don't even have kids playing, they love to come out and watch. It's a great thing for the community.”
Though baseball is in just its third season as a Montana High School Association-sanctioned sport, it’s seen rapid growth.
Prior to the 2023 high school season, young baseball players had few options to play the game. They could invest in travel ball or American Legion ball, both of which start in early spring and have seasons that extend well into the summer.
“We're getting more and more kids trying out for baseball in schools across the state. We have 10 more schools this year, so we are getting more interest in that," Polson coach Brad Fisher said. "The schools are offering a lot more sports these days, and it just gives them another option. We are seeing more kids doing that don't want to play all summer long."
Those first-year programs like Big Sky may have started the season at a disadvantage versus more established programs like Polson, which was already accustomed to the ins and outs of playing high school baseball. On the diamond, the gap has already closed, as the Eagles are 6-3 so far this season.
But the biggest challenges don’t always center around balls and strikes.
“Some of the biggest things have been like the administrative part," Big Sky coach Ryan Roche said. "You know, trying to figure out how to put everything together has been a challenge.
"What we're teaching is so new to these kids and high school (baseball) is so new to them, and so kind of trying to figure out how each kid learns, how everybody does has been a bit of a challenge, but it's been fun."
Roche is a California native who played college baseball at Montana State University-Billings. He coached some travel ball last year, but this is his first season coaching high school ball.
The next step in the sport's development, he said, is continued support and investment from the community, which privately raised the funds to launch the programs at Big Sky, Hellgate and Sentinel.
“We've got a really awesome parent group here, which obviously put this together for us," Roche said, "but we're still kind of seeing some battles, if you will, where other schools, other states don't have that. You know, it's high school baseball, it's go time.”
And the benefits extend beyond the field.
“It's really competitive," Evans said. "It's a big mental game, so I think that it strengthens you mentally on and off the baseball field, and it's good to take that your whole life.”
