Keith Sell Tournament

July 1 - July 4, 2022

Senators power past Butte to win Keith Sell

Heavy rains moved through the area Sunday afternoon, dumping heavy amounts of rain on the field and ultimately canceling the remainder of tournament pool play.

During the rain shower, large amounts of water covered portions of the field. Roughly 12 inches of water spilled into the third base dugout and about half that much into the first base dugout.

“Super proud,” Burnett said of his team. “They were here all week putting the tarp on, taking it off. Then to have the focus coming in here and to sharpen up for this game – they played awesome. [Luke] Dowdy was great on the mound. We took good at-bats. Very excited for how they played today.” Read more about the victory at 406mtsports

The 27th Annual Keith Sell Tournament will be held July 1 – July 4, 2022, at Kindrick Legion Field in Helena. The eight-team tourney opens at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 30.

The Keith Sell Tournament is in honor of Keith Sell,  longtime general manager of the Helena American Legion Program.

Sell was involved with Senators baseball in various capacities off and on for more than 40 years. Beginning in the mid-1960s, he has served as an assistant coach, head coach, and general manager.

A former Copper League pitcher, Sell was ambidextrous and would throw batting practice for the Senators with either hand “with something on it,” according to a former player.

Keith's son, Mike Sell, played for the Senators from 1984 to 1988. Mike played second base and was the lead off hitter all five years. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 1988 Major League Baseball draft and went on to play college baseball at Taft College his freshman year and Yakama Community College his sophomore year before returning to Montana.

Mike's son Caden Sell (Keith's grandson) played for the Independents, Reps, and Senators between 2017-2021.

The field tarp used to cover the infield at Kindrick Legion Field has been coined the "Keith Sell Tarp," as the proceeds from the first Keith Sell Tournament were used to purchase the tarp.

Tournament Rules

1. American Legion Baseball Rules will be followed except as specified below. 

2. Coaches must be in uniform and wear protective helmets.

3. Games will be 7 innings unless extra innings are needed. In the case of a tie after 7 innings or because of time limit, teams will go into a tie-breaker scenario. Each team will start the next inning with a runner on 2nd base and no outs. The runner will be the last out recorded from the previous inning.

4. Twelve run rule applies after 4 innings, eight run rule applies after 5 innings.

5. The time limit for each game is 2 hours. Time will officially start with the first pitch of the game. There will be no time limit for the Championship game. The official score keeper will keep track of time.

6. Home team will occupy the 3 rd base dugout. Helena will be home team for their pool play games. On Sunday, the better seed will be the home team.

7. Infield/outfield is not allowed. Ground balls and fly balls in the outfield only please.

8. Courtesy runners are encouraged for the pitcher and catcher. Courtesy runner can be any player that is not currently in the lineup.

9. Teams will be seeded for Monday’s games.  Seeding criteria follows.
   •    Overall record
   •    Head to Head record
   •    Runs allowed
   •    Runs scored
   •    Coin flip if still tied

   *If 3 or more way ties, head-to-head will only be used if all tied teams have played each other. If all tied teams have not played each other the remaining seeding criteria will be used to break the first tie. The team that won the first tie will then be removed and we will evaluate the remaining teams to break the second tie, where head-to-head can come back into play.

10. The higher seed in Sunday games will be the home team, but the Senators will always occupy the 3rd base dugout.