Sports

Saturday's lineup consisted of T-ball, coach-pitch, minors, majors and, for the first time ever, seniors. 

So if you had the time and were willing to brave the wind and chilly temperatures, you could have seen all levels of Little League baseball being played on the fields of the Art Schutte Sports Complex in Greybull.

It was Opening Day for the South Big Horn Little League and every team was in action.

After a morning of T-ball and coach-pitch, the competitiveness ratcheted up as the day progressed. 

In minors action, A.W. Hunt beat Pathfinder 15-5 in the season opener for both clubs.

The majors game followed.  Sponsored by Big Horn Federal, the Greybull-Basin squad knocked off Otto, 6-4.  Brendyn DeShazer got the start on the mound and pitched well before giving way to Marshall Brown, who locked down the win.

Corbin Stewart led the team in hits.

The Lovell Mustangs American Legion A team kicked off the 2023 season over the weekend with a pair of doubleheaders in Cowley and Sheridan.

The Mustangs split a doubleheader with the Evanston Outlaws Saturday, winning the opener 7-6 and dropping the nightcap 13-11. Saturday across the mountain, the Mustangs fell to the Sheridan Jets 4-1 and 5-1.

With many athletes involved in track and field or other activities, the Mustangs are a bit shorthanded and were especially so on Sunday, manager Michael Jameson said.

For the most part, the Mustangs played well, Jameson said, with solid pitching and defense, but as expected, the team didn’t hit the ball consistently on the opening weekend.

“The pitchers threw well,” he said, “and our defense was solid for the most part, except for a few instances. We allowed one big inning against Evanston.

Twelve members of the Greybull-Basin Athletic Club reaped the rewards of the hard work they invested at last weekend's Wyoming Amateur Wrestling Association (WAWA) state tournament in Casper.

The tournament featured three different styles of wrestling — Greco, freestyle and folkstyle — and one GBAC grappler, Tawny Bertolini, accomplished the rare feat of winning her weight class in all three to become a Triple Crown winner.

Ellie Holloway came close, winning freestyle and folkstyle titles while earning runner-up in Greco.

"We knew those two would do good things as they'd been consistently wrestling through the middle school season and into their national tournament," said Rob Nuttall, who served as one of the team's head coaches this season. "Those two have put a ton of work in and there have been a ton of coaches supporting them -- Nicki (Bertolini), Mark (Sanford) and Nate Hetzel — and their parents deserve a lot of credit for their success too." 

If the first couple weeks of practice are any indication of what's to come, the words "weather permitting" might be the most often used as area track and field athletes, coaches and fans navigate the traditional slate of meets leading up to regional and state competition in May.

Two meets have already been snowed out — the Wind River Invite on March 25, along with this Friday's Burlington Invite.  The Bill Gerrard Invite, which Greybull hosts every year, is a go for Saturday, April 1, but meet director Nolan Tracy acknowledged some concern about a spring storm in the forecast for today (Thursday, March 30). It's been that kind of start.

"The weather's been so bad, but honestly, we should feel lucky," said Tracy, who is also head coach of the Buffs. "Several schools haven't even been able to practice outside.  Big Piney has 3 feet of snow on its track.  Tongue River hasn't been outside — they got 8 more inches out of the last storm."