Malta Royals win first home games

The Malta Royals Legion baseball team (3-5) picked up a pair of wins last week in their home opening double-header against the Wolf Point Yellow Jackets on Thursday, June 6, at Trafton Park.

"The kids were super stoked and excited," Malta Coach Ryan Judd told the PCN.

The Malta American Legion Post 57 team also faced a heavy-hitting team from Laurel on Saturday in Malta and lost game one 35-2 and game two 31-0.

"The competition that we have in this league is going to be really good," Coach Judd said. "They knew what they were getting into with the next game on Saturday because we had already played Laurel in Laurel a few weeks ago."

Malta was missing a few players last Saturday, which included pitcher Juliun Benson, who threw 97 pitches in Wolf Point. The team was also without Brenden Fetter, another starting pitcher from Harlem.

"It would've been better if we would have had them available to pitch," Coach Judd said. "Of course, they would've killed us but I don't think it would've been by five touchdowns."

Capitalizing on football terms, Coach Judd also mentioned that the Malta team did score a safety.

In Malta's first win over Wolf Point, Malta rode a seven run first inning to a 13-10 victory.

"I feel like once everyone had high spirits, we did pretty good," Malta senior Kendall Moore said. "If everyone keeps a positive attitude we will be really good."

The team was led in hitting by Moore who hit two home runs, and an RBI double in four at bats.

"I had never hit a home run and I finally had the confidence to do it," Moore said.

Moore connected on a pair of fastballs right above his hands.

Malta had split a double-header with the Yellow Jackets earlier this season. Moore was asked about some of the corrections they made since those games.

"It was mostly our fielding," Moore said. "We weren't getting our gloves in the dirt, so that's what we've been working on lately."

Moore praised the newly renovated playing field that had been prepared by Coach Judd and a few others. The field even has a score board that was transferred from Murray Park.

"It feels good," Moore said. "Especially with the new field. Everything is fun, everything is fresh and it's fun to play now."

Malta would go on to defeat Wolf Point 5-1 in the second game of their double-header, but the game was postponed in the third inning due to lightning strikes. Wolf Point may choose to continue the game on a later date, but if they choose not to continue, the win goes to Malta.

Malta's schedule is looking tough according to Coach Judd. The team has games against Glasgow, Miles City, Glendive, and a pair of teams from Billings. Malta will host five more double-headers this season.

"Moving forward it is going to be tough to buy a win against most of these other teams," Coach Judd said. "They are pretty stacked and most of them have older kids. Our kids are young and inexperienced but we do have some good ball players moving forward and we will see how it plays out."

The team will travel down to Billings this week to take on the Billings Cardinals on Thursday, June 13, and then the Billings Blue Jays on Friday, June 14.