Polson Baseball prepares for upcoming season

Polson High School Baseball coach Brad Fisher is busy preparing for the upcoming season, which involves a lot of paperwork, ordering of equipment, and planning. With Montana turning baseball into an official school sport, teams had to be created from scratch.

"Since our Legion program has been around so many years and has acquired equipment, you kind of forget how much stuff that is," Fisher said. "We had to get all brand-new bats and uniforms, protective gear, L-screens, and baseballs. You have to plan for everything, including field equipment and even dirt for the field."

Polson will play at the Mission Valley Mariners' home digs of O'Malley Field.

One thing Polson has plenty of is a strong number of players, as 21 kids tried out for the baseball team this year. That's pretty impressive, considering this is the first year for the sport, and could be a testament to how much the Legion-based Mission Valley Mariners have generated interest in the area.

Fisher decided to keep all of the players on the team on both Varsity and Junior Varsity levels. He says that the skill level of the players varies, with some well-seasoned players with plenty of Little League, Babe Ruth, and Legion experience under their belt and others with little experience.

"There are the kids that really love the sport and want to do it," Fisher said. "For them, it might even be kind of a preseason for the Legion season. Then there are probably those kids that don't want to spend all summer playing baseball, so this works for them since they can play before the summer. Some kids prefer to work, have fun, make money, and enjoy the lake during the summer."

Regarding the team's players, Fisher is happy with the number of pitchers they have, and while he doesn't have any one dominant player, many of them throw well enough to have a deep rotation.

Polson has three seniors and a significant number of juniors. Senior Dawson DuMont is an All-State player who has signed to play ball for Shoreline College. Espn Fisher, a celebrated catcher, and Cymian Kauley, one of the team's best pitchers, add talent and experience to the squad.

All-State athlete Jarrett Wilson, who Fisher hasn't coached since he was 12 years old, has decided to play this spring before going to Montana Tech to play quarterback in the fall. Wilson is left-handing and can play outfield, first base and pitch.

The conflict between Legion and high school teams should be at a minimum. Legion programs in areas with school teams cannot start playing baseball until May 20, which is the last day of the high school state tournament. "All the guys coaching this team have also been part of our Legion ball program," Fisher said. "We know the kids that have played and have seen some of the younger kids come up through Little League and Babe Ruth."

Polson, however, won't be competing in the familiar Northwest A Conference since a smaller number of schools have baseball teams. Instead, the team belongs to the Western Conference, which includes Mission, Plains and Frenchtown, and Thompson Falls.

Due to the weather, which has stubbornly hung on to winter, the team has been practicing indoors in the middle school gymnasium using pop-up nets, bullpens, and cage work.

One advantage of the school program is that it can make baseball more affordable for kids who might otherwise believe Legion baseball is too expensive.

"The cost is at a minimum, and some kids think they might not be able to play because of the cost of travel and equipment," Fisher said. "I think some of those kids came out, and it allows them an opportunity they might not have otherwise.”

“But our Legion program is not explicitly expensive,” he added. “Our kids do a lot of fundraising to bring those expenses down."

Fisher believes that playing baseball gives kids a chance to try something new, and he likes that Polson is a large enough school to provide several different sports each season. While the weather will be fairly chilly at the beginning of the season, baseball will soon be in full bloom along the shores of Flathead Lake, and you won't have to wait for the Legion season to start to take in a baseball game.

"This is a pretty big softball community, and they do a great job supporting the Lady Pirates," Fisher said. "It's a neat thing we're going to have now with both diamonds with teams on them, and we hope we get some people down here to have a good time."

The team debuts this Saturday with games at Florence, Monday vs. Corvallis and next Thursday vs. St. Ignatius.