Actually, now that I think about it, and read up on it, the swallows travel over 6000 miles from their summer home in Argentina, and I guess they are getting a little tired as fewer birds and smaller flocks have been noted for the last 10 or 15 years or so. This is not due to global warming they tell me, but rather to the increase of places to nest and the increase of places to feed along their route.

The Billings Scarlets played a double-header today, winning the morning game 11-1. The first game was called early on account of the 10 run rule—some say “we mercied ‘em!”

Left-hander Joe Barta looked pretty good for Opening Day, the hitters were swinging well, the running looked hesitant, though they may have just been avoiding running up the score too early, and the Great Falls Chargers did not play their best defense, either on the mound or in the field.

It was too windy to stay for the 2nd game. See the costumes of the fans to the right.

According to the Gazette, Coach of the Scarlets Adam Hust expects a fairly experienced crew back this year. It’s a good review of all of the young athletes returning for the Scarlets this year. They are modestly confident they will be near if not actually at the top of the standings when the State Tournament comes around this year at Butte, July 27-31.

By the way, in addition to the State Tournament in Butte this year, Billings’ Dehler Park will be hosting the  Northwest Regional Tournament August 4 through Aug 9th. Put that on your calendar as both Scarlets and Royals could be playing in this tournament.

I saw them play on Sunday when they handily beat the Lethbridge Elks, but then on Monday they lost in extra innings to the Bozeman Bucks, which meant they had to come back through the loser’s bracket, beating both Missoula on Tuesday and then Kalispell on Wednesday afternoon to get back to playing the Bucks last night.

I had a hunch they might do well at this tournament because they seemed to have a few more pitchers capable of winning at this level and a surprising number of batters who could come through when necessary. Their coach too, young Adam Hust, seemed to have a level head able to get the best from his young players. He probably learned a few things from his coach, Dennis Maggert, long-time coach of the Scarlets.

As you can see from the dates and the places some things are never over. What a guy. I would have loved to see the ribbons on his left chest. Us younger folk would probably have been scratching our heads looking at the older ribbons. Thanks for serving for the rest of us.

Another more mundane example of things not being over was the baseball game at Pirtz Field on Monday, Memorial Day evening, between the Billings Cardinals and the Billings Blue Jays, the younger versions of the Scarlets and Royals.

The Cardinals started off with a 5 run lead in the early innings, only to be devastated by an 8 run outburst by the Blue Jays in the bottom of the 3rd. A few more runs were added by both sides in the 5th and 6th innings. The last inning saw the Cardinals come up with 5 runs, featuring a base-clearing double by Justin MacDonald and a 2 run single by Tyler Girard to take a 12-11 lead and then Brandon Kuehn managed to hold off the Blue Jays for the final 3 outs. It’s not over ’til it’s over, or until the John Deere comes out of the shed onto the infield.

Sorry I couldn’t give you any information on baseball games from Pirtz and Urbaska Fields. The better teams in the tournament and some of my favorites were playing at Dehler Park so that is where I hunkered down much of Saturday and Sunday. And of course they serve beer and brats at Dehler and not at Pirtz.

After watching portions of various games it seems to me that this tournament is more oriented to the younger players and also those from smaller towns and lesser teams from nearby, except of course, for those friendly neighbors to the north, the Red Deer Braves from Alberta. We were glad to see them, especially as they left the hockey players at home to work on that game.

The Scarlets and Royals are clearly standing out from the rest, perhaps warming up for bigger fish in their conference play and the UAS/Fleetwood Tournament coming up late in June (26-30th).

According to the minimal and fine print coverage in the Gazette the Royals and Laurel Dodgers played to a tie (sic) at Pirtz Field on Saturday evening: because of time limits; and the Gallatin Valley Outlaws beat Red Deer in extra innings: I guess because it was the last game of the night. This last and the earlier Halos/Blue Jays game were the most exciting games I managed to see.

Though we always need the rain, the Sunday evening rain cloud unfortunately washed out the main feature of the day at Dehler Park, the contest between the Royals and the Scarlets, 1-0 in about the 3rd inning. I would guess the Cardinals and Powell were rained out at Pirtz as well. I didn’t see any of the games at Urbaska Field but it sounded like the Halos ran out of pitching playing against Livingston. To the right is the intersection of 25th St and 9th Ave as I was running to my car after the deluge.

There is more baseball on tap on Monday. The big games will be at Dehler: Royals at 2pm v. Gallatin Valley Outlaws, and Scarlets at 5pm v. Laurel. Pirtz Field at 5pm will have the Cardinals and Blue Jays facing each other in the finale there.

On Saturday the Royals took on the Bozeman Bucks at Dehler Park in a couple of 7 inning games. On Mother’s Day the Scarlets hosted the Great Falls Stallions in a similar format. I only managed to see parts of the first game of the doubleheaders that were played each day. Apparently the Scarlets opened their season in Sheridan last weekend with a couple of wins.

According to the Gazette the Royals won the second game 4-1 after losing the first game 6-3. The good news in the first game was that hitting, pitching, fielding and base running all need a little work. These things are doable I think.

Apart from giving up 9 runs in the 2nd inning of their first game on Sunday the Scarlets looked fairly good, except of course, for some problems with fielding and base running. The scoreboard at the end of the game pretty much tells the story.

Come on down to Dehler Park. Season tickets are $25. The old and the young get in for nothing. Here is a website that leads you to schedules etc for all four teams.

Next weekend the Royals take on Great Falls Stallions there on Saturday, and Gillette and Miles City here at Dehler Park on Sunday afternoon. The Scarlets take on Bozeman on Saturday afternoon at Dehler. Be there. There is info on the Cardinals and the Blue Jays at the website too.