The Stevensville group of citizens that was attempting to raise $30,000 to fund a high school baseball program has met its goal and the school announced last Friday that there will be a baseball program for the spring season. The students heard the news at the homecoming pep assembly.
In fact, the goal was actually exceeded and the group plans to continue raising money for the program’s future needs, according to Tracy Montague, one of the parents involved in the fundraising effort.
“We have almost $30,000 in the bank,” said Montague, “with more money coming in. We’re going to continue to fund raise so we can work on field improvements and get the school as ahead as possible.”
The Montana High School Association (MHSA) approved adding baseball as a high school sport and the 2023 season will be the first one. Montague said that Hamilton, Corvallis, and Florence are also planning to field teams. The first season will include schools of various sizes so that there is enough opportunity for all schools to participate if they choose to. Montague said that the majority of the teams are in Western Montana.
The Stevensville team will be using fields owned by the school district off of ALC Way. Montague said that although the property is owned by the school, the Stevensville Youth Baseball/Softball Association is the group that made all the current improvements. She said that additional improvements will need to be made, perhaps to the sprinkler system, the fencing, the backstop and dugouts. She said there will need to be a storage facility installed there specifically for the high school program.
Montague said she was impressed at how the community came together to support this. She gave a lot of the credit to Terri Larson. “She went everywhere,” said Montague, “and was the biggest cheerleader.” A fundraiser at the Tin Can Bar and Draft Room was a big success. “A lot of people came out,” said Montague. “There were also a surprising amount of anonymous donations.”
Tracy’s son Evan, a sophomore at Stevensville, is excited about the new program. He said he started playing baseball at 4 or 5 years old and played competitively from 9 years old until he was 14. He’s 16 now and hopes to make the team, perhaps playing in the outfield and maybe even doing some pitching. He said that lots of kids are interested, but he’s heard that for the first year they might have a smaller team, maybe around 17 members.
Tracy Montague said they are hoping to make a big deal for the first home game and thank the community for its support.
“I can’t believe we did that in such a short amount of time,” said Tracy. “I don’t know that any other town in the valley could have done that. When Stevensville people need to come together they do.”
“I love the community,” added Evan. “They have helped us so much. I’m really thankful to have a community like this. We couldn’t have done it without them.”