All-stars raise $8,417 for Regionals trip
The Clark Fork Valley Minors All-stars are on their way to Meridian, Idaho today for the regional tournament. The tournament starts tomorrow with pool play, and, if the All-stars win they’ll move on to the Cal Ripkin World Series in Maryland next month.
By winning the Western Montana State Championship the team won $1,000 in travel money to help with expenses to travel to Meridian. However, with the rising cost of gasoline along with food and hotel room prices, the cost of traveling to tournaments really adds up, and while the $1,000 will definitely be a help, it won’t cover all of what the team will need to pay for.
Coach Todd Johannsen said that the community has really stepped up in support of the All-stars and he is glad to see everyone so excited about them.
“It has been really great to have the community come out and support us in such a way,” he said.
The All-stars reached out to the community and asked for donations to help with their travel expenses and the community responded. The All-stars were able to raise around $8, 417 for travel expenses.
“We’re really happy to have such a supportive community who can help us out in such a way,” Stacy Milner, one of the mothers said.
“The community was absolutely great, that was a lot of money to make in just one week,” she said. “We had a car wash in Thompson Falls and raised $1,000 doing that alone.”
The All-stars made it to regionals after winning the Western Montana State Championship at the softball complex in Polson two weekends ago. The All-stars went through the tournament undefeated and had a blowout victory against Whitefish in the championship game, beating Whitefish 13-0 in four innings.
The All-stars will take on Willamette Valley, from Oregon tomorrow at 8 a.m. in their first game. They will also play Friday at 1 p.m. against Eastmont, from Washington and then again Friday at 6 p.m. against West Linn, from Oregon. How they do in these games will determine whether or not they make it to the semi-finals on Saturday and then the championship game on Sunday.