Youth baseball is back on the Hi-Line

Before the Great Falls Voyagers and Missoula Osprey took the field at Centene Stadium on Tuesday evening, another set of teams did.

It was Chester’s youth baseball program, and for many of the youngsters, it was their first taste of Minor League Baseball.

“It was really fun being on this big a field because I’ve never been on one,” 10-year-old Blake Harmon said.

“Our field doesn’t have grass in the middle like this one. Ours is completely dirt,” added Ryker Elverud, 11, looking out as the Voyagers trailed Missoula 2-1 midway through the Pioneer League contest.

The two youth-league teams trekked to the Electric City from the Hi-Line and were introduced on the field before the professionals took to it Tuesday. What stuck out most, apparently, was the acreage at Centene. The ballpark atmosphere wasn’t far behind.

“It’s a great experience, actually,” said 12-year-old Jordan Bender. “It’s pretty fun. I mean, I’ve never been on a field this big, so it’s really cool.”

The youngsters’ reactions ranged from awestruck to giddy. Not a bad night for a town that spent a large part of the last decade without organized youth baseball. Chester kids would have to drive to Shelby or Rudyard, or north of Joplin to a team called Little Sage, along the creek by the same name.

A group of Chester men reorganized the program last summer. They play in a league with teams from Conrad and Valier and pick up other games along the way. They brought 25 kids to town Tuesday for an end-of-the-season celebration.

“Just to get them to see some of the fundamentals of the game and see how the game is played,” said Chris Mattson, one of the coaches. “Some of these kids didn’t even get T-ball.”

Mattson, his brother, Jeff, and Brad Kammerzell are the primary organizers and coaches for the fledgling program. The idea to come to a Voyagers game was born of nostalgia, they said.

“It was a father-son deal,” Jeff Mattson recalled of his own youth. “They’d load up a bus or two, and we’d come down with our dads.”

Those guys watched a team then known as the Great Falls Dodgers. They can remember it like it was yesterday, Rookie-level ballplayers who would go on to Major League fame, guys like Pedro Martinez, Eric Karros, John Wetteland, Raul Mondesi.

The men wanted the same experience for their own kids.

“For a few of them, it’s probably the only baseball they will watch this summer, period,” Kammerzell said. “… So it’s good for them to see how the players position themselves, get ready to play.”

Or to chase a souvenir.

“It’s everyone’s goal to come home with a foul ball,” Kammerzell allowed.

But for some of the boys, it’s a way to wrap up another successful season on the diamond. And it’s not lost on the young ’uns how important it is to play for Chester.

“Since Brad opened up a new opportunity to play baseball, it’s really cool that I’m able to play baseball in my hometown,” Bender said.