The Retort

Big Sky All Stars Make Hometown—and State—Proud

September 23rd, 2011 by Cory Lovec Of The Retort Staff

The Big Sky Little League has been a part of Billings for over 50 years. Never before in those 50 years has the league made its city prouder than it did this summer. Never before has a team from Montana won a Northwest Regional Tournament and a right to attend the Little League World Series (LLWS). Never before - that’s what the Big Sky All Stars heard throughout their time in the LLWS, but they persevered, proved the naysayers wrong, and turned their doubters into believers.

Upon hearing the name “Big Sky All Stars” most people believe that the team must have been a group of all-star little league players from around the state - or even around the entire Big Sky area. These people would be wrong. The 12 players making up the Big Sky All Stars are all from the Big Sky Little League, a league made up solely of teams from the Billings area, stretching from North Park to Gregory Hills. The Big Sky All Stars won the Northwest Regional Tournament, and, if that wasn’t enough, they then had a chance to prove themselves as one of only eight teams from the United States to make it to the LLWS, and one of only 16 teams in the entire world. The first team Billings had to face was the Midwest champions of Rapid City, South Dakota.

Jay Crawford of ESPN’s First Take said of the first-round matchup between Billings and Rapid City: “Wow. That must be a big deal for the people in those cities!” Of course, Crawford was stating the truth. However, around the sporting world, most thought that Billings didn’t really have a legitimate chance to do much in the tournament. Many people believed the only reason the Big Sky All Stars might win a game was because they’re played Rapid City first. Well the Big Sky All Stars did beat Rapid City (6-4), moving on to the second round to face the Southwest champions from Lafayette, Louisiana. Once again, Billings proved the naysayers wrong, beating Lafayette 3-1 and advancing into the U.S. Semifinal vs. West championship against the team from Huntington Beach, California.

Brent Musberger, highly-regarded announcer and former Billings resident, opened the Billings vs. Huntington Beach match-up by saying, “It is a delight for me to be here tonight. I never expected to be doing a Little League baseball game involving the old hometown team of Billings, Montana.” What a game Musberger was able to see: a 1-0 game that took an extra inning and a walk-off hit by Billings outfielder Ben Askelson (talk about moment of your life!). With that hit, the Big Sky All Stars made it to the U.S. Championship game, and had to patiently await their next opponent to work its way up through the loser bracket of the tournament.

Billings entered the U.S. Championship as the only team still undefeated on the American side of the bracket and one of only two teams still undefeated overall (Mexico was undefeated on the International side). Billings was to play either the “hometown” team at the LLWS (Clinton County, Pennsylvania) or the team they had just defeated, Huntington Beach, CA. Huntington Beach beat Clinton County in a close game, 2-0, and so three days after Billings beat Huntington Beach to make it to the Championship game they faced them again, this time for the title of U.S. Champion and the right to play for the World Series Title.

This matchup wasn’t as close. It’s not that the Big Sky All Stars were playing poorly - it was that Huntington Beach was playing that well. Huntington Beach won 11-2, earning the right to play International Champion Japan, who defeated the previously-undefeated Mexico.

West first baseman Nick Pratto’s two-out, bases-loaded single gave Huntington Beach, CA a 2-1 walk-off win over Japan in the 2011 Little League Baseball Championship. The game was obviously a very exciting game to watch and featured great pitching and defense.

Although the Big Sky All Stars did not win the U.S. Championship they can take pride in the fact that they were the only team to defeat the team that won it all. In fact, Huntington Beach was a very worthy team to win the championship: in their six LLWS games, they outscored their opponents by a grand total of 36-4, and three of the four runs scored on them were by the Big Sky All Stars.

It is safe to say that the Big Sky All Stars’ run through the Little League World Series is one that will never be forgotten by the people of Billings, of Montana, or even of anyone involved with the LLWS. Their journey truly was a Cinderella story, and an inspiration to us all.