By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–Helena High School baseball pitcher Robbie Lively became the program’s first college signee after penning his National Letter of Intent to play college baseball for the Southern Union Bison.

Dozens of friends, families, teammates, current and former coaches and more filled the athletic field house to help celebrate with Lively.

“I’ve known Robbie for about a year-and-a-half but I feel like I’ve known him for about 10 years,” said Helena head coach PJ Guy. “I’ve just been blessed to get the opportunity to coach him, be around him and watch him grow as much as he has grown in the past year-and-a-half. I could not think of a better example of a young man and person of high character on the field and off the field to represent our program and this high school and this city to be our first signee.”

Two Southern Union baseball caps sat in front of Lively and to his right a table featured hats and photos from teams he’s played on in the past.

Before signing his NLI, Lively took time to thank everyone who has helped him grow and develop as a baseball player, as well as a person.

The list included family, friends, teammates and current and former coaches and mentors.

“I’ve been playing since I was four or five years old,” said Lively. “It was relieving knowing I had a chance to play and that all my hard work was just paying off. I guess it’s just the Lord’s way and the way he works wonders is just amazing.”

The Helena baseball team came up just a few wins shy of winning a state championship last year, and Lively is taking that experience to help prepare for this season.

“I’m going to take care of my body a lot more,” said Lively. “We’re going to have to fight harder. We came up short last year and we’ve got to keep on fighting and can’t let off the gas at all. I hope we can try and finish the job this year.”