For some Mariners, it's life on the road
PLAINS — For three members of the Mission Valley Mariners baseball team it seems like life on the road sometimes. Brandon 'Moose' Thompson, Chris Brown and Brandon Roy all have to make the 120-mile round trip to Polson each and every day for practice or games, although sometimes when they have to be in Polson early the next day for a team event they will spend the night with teammates.
Thompson is somewhat of a seasoned pro at making the drive from Plains to Polson. Three years ago Thompson was asked to play for the Mariners by coach Jami Hanson. Hanson, who also coaches girls basketball at Two Eagle River School, was on a road trip in Hot Springs during basketball season and he had been alerted by Mariner Joe Locke that a big kid from Plains could play baseball.
Hanson did some research and then did what every good coach would do - he hunted Thompson down. Hanson found out who Thompson's girlfriend was and went up to her after a basketball game and asked her to have Thompson call him about baseball. Thompson connected with Hanson and the rest is, well, history.
Thompson started making the 120-mile trip by himself last year.
"It's a long drive but even if we had a team in Thompson Falls I would still play in Polson," Thompson said.
Thompson also had another connection to Polson — his father played college baseball with the father of Mariners' player Steve Larson. Moose has been playing baseball since he was five years old and said he loves the game. But the road trips are not all peaches and cream in the beautiful state of Montana. He has had a couple of problems on the road that left him stranded.
"My first year of I had a U-Joint problem and my tire almost fell off. It was wiggling all over the place," Thompson said, laughing.
If Hanson could have only imagined what would happen after he opened the Sanders County pipeline he might have started searching sooner. Now three of the Mariners make the trip over together. Brown and Roy decided to try out for the team after speaking with Thompson about it.
"Thompson and I are best friends so I decided to come play in Polson with him," said Brown.
Most of the time the three Plains players ride together, listening to music and talking about everything from girls to baseball.
"Sometimes we crash at other players' houses. It's really nice cause we get breakfast the next day," Brown said. "It's a blast staying with friends in Polson."
Regardless of how much fun road trips are, the players have all felt the impact in their wallets. Their parents help out with gas money and the boys take turns driving.
"I'm probably the worst driver, but that's good so I don't have to drive that much," Roy said.
Roy starting making the trip from Plains to Polson during the pre-season practices to see if things would work out, and ultimately they did.
"I really enjoy playing baseball and Polson is the closet place for me to play. I want to play for Polson and I really wouldn't like switching teams," said Roy.
Roy and Brown both admitted to singing and Brown said Thompson is the best singer in the car. When asked what they like to listen to they just said whatever is on the radio.
When the team travels out of the area for games the Sanders County players will sometimes meet the bus in Elmo or Ravalli, depending on where the team is headed.
Hanson is understanding of these three players and the others who have to drive to Polson for team functions. The team may have the largest draw area in western Montana. The team can get players from as far as Arlee to Sanders County. From time to time the coaching staff will let the players from far away miss a practice because of the distance.
"We always try to help out all of our kids as much as possible. We are all a big family," said Hanson. "You have to make accommodations for these players."