by Scott Sacry
A field of dreams became a reality in Stevensville on Friday, March 31st as the Jackets played their first ever home baseball game. Over the last number of years former Stevensville athletic director Chance Edman helped spearhead the push for high school baseball becoming an official high school sport in Montana. But after the baseball was approved statewide, it looked like Stevensville wasn’t going to be able to field a team because of a lack of funds. The local community stepped in and stepped up and raised roughly $30,000 in 2 weeks to fill in the gap. All these factors converged on Friday in Stevensville at their first home game. Local American Legion #94 helped with the opening ceremonies, and baseball in Stevensville was underway.
In the actual game, Stevensville played East Helena and won 13-6. Stevensville dug themselves into a deep hole to start the game, giving up 4 runs in the first inning to trail 0-4, but the Jackets quickly added 3 first inning runs to close the gap. Stevensville’s starting pitcher Drake Springer settled down after the first inning and only allowed one more run the rest of the game. Evan Montague stepped in to pitch the last three innings and got the save and had 7 strikeouts. The score was tied 5-5 going into the 4th inning, but the Jackets scored 8 runs in the next three innings to roll to the victory. At the plate, Jeffery Berryman went 2 for 5 and had 3 RBI’s, Drake Springer went 2 for 3 and had 4 runs, and Cole Germane went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI.