Youth baseball program seeks support
Melea Burke
Mission Valley Mariner pitcher Micah McClure prepares to pitch to a batter.
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News from the Mission Valley Mariners
Local baseball youth, parents, sponsors and fans have a special opportunity to help local teenagers continue to have an opportunity to experience a baseball program during their high school years and early adulthood. Our great State of Montana is one of the few remaining places without a high school sponsored baseball program, and the Mission Valley Mariners fills that tremendous need.
Valley-wide we have hundreds of children and young teenagers playing Tee-Ball, Little League and Babe Ruth baseball, with the Mariners program as the highest local program for them to aspire to and help them acquire college scholarships and education. Providing safe and healthy sport activities for our 14–19-year-old youth to engage in and counter the bad choices teenagers face is paramount for their success into adulthood.
This past year, the Mariners program fielded two teams that played in more than 80 games. Dozens of games were local doubleheader events at the beautiful Mariner Field and the program held the annual Firecracker Tournament and hosted the Western Montana “A” District Tournament. The caliber of teams in Western Montana competing with the Mariners is the highest of any Northwestern state, as the Northwest Regional Championship team advanced from our district.
Your membership, support and participation in the Mission Valley Mariners program are needed. If you have a baseball player in your household or you know a teenager who would benefit from being on the Mariner teams, please join us today.
The MVM program promotes physical fitness, sportsmanship, community service and a drug-free environment. Local players are subject to random drug testing as well as companionship, adult supervision and good old-fashioned baseball.
The Mariner Membership Drive is an annual process, and the goal is to recruit 50 new members by Oct. 21. Once a $10 annual membership fee is paid, the new member is eligible to be on the MVM executive board and will have a vote in the selection of the board.
The Mariner Board would like to thank area businesses for strong support and also those individuals who donated time and money. The program runs on donations, game incomes and player fees. Thanks also goes out to the players and parents who commit countless hours of hard work in making the local program a success, and to the City of Polson and the CSKT, who have both been generous in the use of local baseball fields.
The annual meeting for the Mariners will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at the Kwataqnuk Resort in the lower meeting rooms from 7-9 p.m.
The board looks forward to new ideas and new members. New members will gain the satisfaction of working with a wonderful group of young men, many of whom continue their baseball interests in college after completing the Mariner program.
Questions may be directed to Tom McDonald at 406-676-2018 or Teresa Wall-McDonald at 406-676-2018. Membership pledges may be mailed to the Mariners, PO Box 1396, Polson, MT 59860.
