High School Baseball is Coming the Billings School District 2

Billings, Montana – Billings School District Two will now have baseball after the school board approved the sports program.

It is anticipated that the program will formally launch in the spring of 2025. Mark Sulser, the director of athletics and activities for SD2, stated that although it will take some time, it will enable the district to get ready for a great spring baseball program.

Sulser’s father played baseball in Great Falls back in the 1950s, which is when he last heard of the sport being played in Montana schools.

He claimed that the inclement weather in Montana makes it difficult to schedule games in the spring. Although Sulser stated that the decision was made based on the district’s available funding and the location of the students’ games, the SD2 Board voted against baseball activities.

He stated that money is currently the largest barrier, but the board is upbeat.

“I encourage the board to develop a policy whether it be through the board or myself and legal to set up a policy that would say, new and emerging sports would be self-funded for the first three years. That would give special interest groups, groups that want to start programs a starting point and allow the district to evaluate and assess how a program is building and growing as a program within sd2,” said Sulser.

Another reason for the schools to introduce baseball was that, as a result of the 1986 Ridgeway v. Montana HS Association ruling, there should be an equal number of sports offered for boys and girls. Currently, there are ten sports programs for females and only nine for boys. In the end, Sulser stated that increasing the chances for children to engage in extracurricular activities at school is always a good idea.