GREAT FALLS — The Electric City Baseball Academy, whose teams go by the name Great Falls Lightning, is holding tryouts for kids aged 8 through 13 on Sunday, Sept. 20 at the Great Falls Americans Little League Complex.
The group aims to prep players for the American Legion level. Lightning teams play 40 to 60 games per summer and the group works closely with the Great Falls Chargers Class AA program. The last time a Great Falls Legion team won a state championship was 1977, and ECBA President Sean Sturges would like to see that change.
"While that's not the only thing that we're interested in, obviously bringing home a state title at the AA Legion level to Great Falls would be great," Sturges said. "But in order to do that we really need to generate more interest, have more kids interested in playing baseball and that's our goal."
He said despite the coronavirus challenges last summer, it was a successful first summer for the program, which started in 2018.
"We had around 150 kids playing from age 8 all the way up to 15 or 16 years of age. So 8 years old all the way through single-A Legion last year. Overall, you know, the season was, it had its challenges, trying to adapt to a changing environment," he said. "But we were able to get a lot of games, and kids did a great job -- really progressed, advanced, had a lot of fun, and that's what it's all about."
Sturges said tryouts for ages 14 through 16 will be later this fall, but there’s no confirmed date.
The following information is from the ECBA.
When: Sunday, September 20th, 2020
- 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm for age 8
- 2:15 pm – 3:15 pm for age 9
- 3:30pm – 4:30 pm forage10
- 4:45 pm – 5:45 pm for age 11
- 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm for age 12
- 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm for age 13
Your child’s age for travel baseball is the age they will be on May 1, 2021.
Where: Great Falls Americans Little League Complex (1022 38th St N, Great Falls, MT 59401)
