GREAT FALLS — A little over a month ago, CMR junior Gage Allen took home his first individual Class AA wrestling title. As an athlete that shines on the mat, and on the gridiron for football, he is now making a return to play baseball with the sport becoming a sanctioned activity in the Electric City.
"I always said I was going to come back," Allen said during CMR's practice at Grande Vista park on Tuesday.
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Allen, an infielder, took a year away from the sport since it was not an available activity to participate in during the spring. His intention was to primarily focus on wrestling and football, he said.
"It being in the spring, it's a really good opportunity," Allen said. "I did track last year, but, you know, I think I've always had a love for baseball. So I figured I'd come back out and I'm excited for it."
A main factor drove his interest to start playing baseball at a young age, Allen said.
"All my buddies played it," Allen said. "I didn't get to hang out with my buddies in the spring, so I was like, I'm going to go hang out with my buddies, play some baseball."
When Allen first heard the news that baseball would officially become a high school sport at CMR, he said he was all in.
"In my mind a little bit, there's maybe an opening for me to try and do this and track, but, you know, schedules conflict," Allen said. "But I'm really glad baseball came around. I've always loved this sport and so I'm really glad I could get another opportunity to play it."
He said he's not the only on the Rustler team in a similar situation.
"We've got a few kids that maybe haven't played baseball their whole life," Allen said. "And I think it's really cool that, you know, they get a chance to, hey, here's a new sport, might as well go try it out."
"A lot of kids give up quite a bit of their summer to play (American Legion) ball and this is an opportunity for those kids that, you know, want to do some other things during the summer," head coach Tony Forster added. "And . . . have an opportunity to play baseball in the spring. It's exciting and we're all meshing well together, so things are going great."
But with taking a year off, Allen said he's still shaking off some rust.
"I'm trying to get that out of the way right now, hopefully be ready for Saturday," Allen said.
CMR begins its debut baseball campaign on Saturday with a home doubleheader at Don Olson Field against Missoula Sentinel at 12 and 2 p.m.
