Firecracker fundraising

POLSON - While the Mission Valley Mariners will be trying to win on the field during the Firecracker Tournament this weekend, they'll also be trying to win off it. Money raised from the Firecracker Tournament helps the team pay for improvements to their home stadium, Legion Field.

"We lease it from the city," Laurie Rathe, who is in charge of fundraising for the Mariners, said. "Anything we do to that field becomes property of the city."

Two such projects they're looking into is replacing the old wooden bleachers with a covered grandstand and adding lights to the stadium. While they're still finalizing prices on both of those projects, one of them will for sure get done by this fall, Rathe said.

"We need to decide which one of the two we're going to move forward," Rathe said. "We'll be off and running as soon as the season is over."

In the tournament, 11 teams will participate and 23 games will be played. There are three teams from the Mission Valley, and then teams from Libby, Missoula, Livingston, Helena, Deer Lodge and even a Canadian team from Cranbrook.

"That's our huge weekend, there's going to be good quality baseball," Mission Valley Mariners head coach Jame Hanson said.

The Mariners received a Polson Rotary Club grant for field improvements but a good chunk of their fundraising also comes from this tournament.

While the field itself is in fine shape, there are several reason why the Mariners want to make the renovations.

"Everybody likes to come to Polson because of the lake, but also because they want to play baseball on that field," Rathe said. "Lots of teams don't have the facilities that we do."

The field has been largely maintained by volunteer Dan Rausch, Rathe said.

According to Rathe, adding lights to the stadium would allow teams to play night games, meaning the Mariners could host bigger tournaments with more teams.

The lights would open up game start times of 7 and 9 p.m. More teams mean more funds raised by the tournaments and more money for the team.

The Glacier Legion baseball organization donated the light fixtures two years ago, it's just going to take a process of finding out what is needed to install those lights.

Volunteer work will be a large part of the process, Rathe said.

"Baseball people are so into volunteering," she said.

The team is also considering installing a new grandstand that would protect fans from the elements.

"That's something we want to do for our fans," Rathe said. "If there's a little bit of rain, the game goes on, but the fans suffer."

A few other side projects have also been identified. There has been talk about improving the drainage of the field since water has been pooling up after this particularly wet spring and there's also a proposal to upgrade some of the dugout layouts.

There's a push for improvements since next year the Mission Valley Mariners will host the 2011 State A Legion Tournament as well as their normal Firecracker Tournament.

"It's kind of exciting next year we'll have two tournaments," Rathe said.

So a large crowd at the stadium would not just be a big lift for the team on the field but also off it when it comes to providing a quality environment at the ballpark.

"Everybody should buy the tickets and come out," Rathe said. "It will help the Mission Valley Mariners."