It’ll be a grand slam baseball benefit — with no chance of a rainout.
The entire Bainbridge High School baseball coaching staff and players will host a special screening of the classic baseball movie, “Major League II,” to raise funds for the upcoming season next week.
The fundraiser will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan 13 at Island Center Hall.
In addition to the movie matinee, the team will raffle off new Spartan baseball merchandise.
The Spartans hope to raise enough money to buy strong infield tarps to protect the field from rainouts, replace the existing dirt bullpens and batting cages with concrete ones, improve field security and update the field maintenance equipment.
“These improvements are long overdue and we decided that this is the year we wanted to bring the entire baseball and softball communities together to support players of all ages,” said BHS Baseball Coach David Smart.
“It’s really exciting to have an event that can help us reach these goals for this year’s players and future generations, he added”
The goal is to raise an additional $2,000 by March 1.
BHS Baseball Boosters, along with many of the returning Spartan players, have been fundraising since October in hopes of seeing the improvements in place before the season begins in late February.
The BHS baseball program already has a nice start in reaching the goal, thanks to Bainbridge Island Ace Hardware owners Steve and Becky Mikami, MRJ Constructors and Bainbridge Island Babe Ruth; all have made generous donations to kick-start the campaign.
And when Bainbridge Island Babe Ruth wrapped up its program here on the island in 2011, it was decided that some of its remaining funds would go to the high school teams to help with permanent field improvements.
Spartan seniors and starting varsity players Paimon Jaberi and Will Houser are excited about the field improvement efforts, and said it will open doors for all baseball and softball players on the island to have a place to train year-round.
The current batting cages and bullpens the teams use are often not functional after only a few hours of rain.
“In the highly competitive Metro League, these field improvements will help our teams greatly, adding to the wins column with more reps in the cages and better bullpens for the pitchers to work with,” Jaberi said.
Additionally, the improvements will be located at Bainbridge High School, which will make it easy for both baseball and fastpitch softball players to have access to the facilities before and after school.
For those that cannot attend the event, the teams are accepting donations for the field improvements. Checks can be made out to BHS Baseball Boosters and dropped off or mailed to Bainbridge High School, 9330 NE High School Road, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.
