Finally, a field of their own

It’s been about 47 years since they were built and four years since teams played on them, but the baseball fields on Highway 206 at Jensen Road have been given a new life.

The Deer Park-Badrock Youth Baseball Association, which owns the fields, has partnered with the Columbia Falls Youth Softball Association to create a home for the girls softball program.

“We couldn’t use them, so why just let them sit wasting?” Deer Park board member Kelly Toman said about the fields.

For the girls, this is a chance to develop a top-notch softball facility of their own for practices, games and invitational tournaments, board member Kathy Price said.

Long-time area resident Howard Johnston established the Deer Park baseball association in 1967, and fields were set up south of the Silver Bullet Bar. Sometime in the 1970s, fields were built at the current location on land owned by Jennie Ladenburg. The baseball association bought the five-acre site in 1992 and named them the Howard Johnston Memorial Fields.

The association’s regular fundraising event was Hobo Days and Chili Feed held at the Silver Bullet, Toman said. Don Frey and other baseball association members kept the fields in good condition, and more than 1,000 kids benefited from them.

The Deer Park association had as many as four Cal Ripken teams for players up to 12 years old, Toman said. Following Cal Ripken rules, the association was underwritten for insurance and other purposes by the Columbia Falls Baseball Association.

“Deer Park paid for the underwriting, for the fields, for umpires, everything,” said Toman, whose two sons and granddaughter all played at the Deer Park fields.

But the Columbia Falls Baseball Association said they would no longer support the charter for Deer Park after the 2010 season. The Deer Park players traveled to Columbia Falls, and the Deer Park fields went idle.

“Baseball used to be big thing in Deer Park, and our group scholarshipped a lot of kids — we paid their fees, picked them up for practice and games,” Toman said. “It was a community effort.”

The Deer Park teams would play anyone who showed up, Toman said, but they never had enough players to field a league of their own under Cal Ripken rules. Meanwhile, the softball association had been looking for a way to expand outside of the high school facility.

“Both groups needed something,” Toman said, “and we’ve been putting this partnership together for the past two years.”

The fields have gotten a little weedy, and the bleachers are serviceable, Toman said, but the site has sandy soil that drains quickly, wind keeps the snow level down, and the fields could be open sooner in spring than other locations in the valley.

This is just what the softball association needed. The association started small in 2002 with about 40 players. A board was formed that fall and 220 girls signed up to play the next spring, Price said.

“Since then, we’ve averaged about 180 kids each year,” she said.

The program is run entirely by a community of volunteers and board members, some serving on the board since it started.

“The league is successful because of the coaches who have put in countless hours for learning, practices, games — and even doing summer travel teams,” Price said. “Their commitment to the players and for the ‘love of the game’ is why the program is so successful.”

Registration begins in January, pitching and coaching clinics are held in gyms during winter, practices and games begin in April with participating teams from Columbia Falls, Whitefish, Polson and Ronan, and tournaments end the season in early June.

“Some of the athletes who have come out of this program have gone on to play for the Columbia Falls Wildkats and eventually college fast-pitch softball,” Price said.

The softball association is able to keep costs affordable with contributions from business sponsors.

“Columbia Falls is truly a generous community, and they pride themselves with the many programs available to keep youths active and involved in the community,” Price said.

The softball association has invested money on bringing power and sprinklers to the high school field, but it wasn’t their property. When the association lined up a $125,000 grant from Major League Baseball, they found the money couldn’t be used at the high school, Price said.

The county offered the softball association land in Vetsville for a field, but that idea never worked out, and the baseball field on Railroad Street in Columbia Falls was in use by Columbia Falls Baseball. The Major League Baseball grant has expired, but now that the softball association has their own fields, they can re-apply, Price said.

Plans call for reconfiguring the five-acre site on Highway 206 into three fields with irrigation, lights, bleachers, a maintenance shed, a concession stand and restrooms. Access onto the highway must also be improved.

“This will be as quality a facility as any in the valley,” Toman said. “I expect to see these fields get really busy.”

For more information about Columbia Falls Youth Softball Association, visit online at www.wildkatsoftball.org.