Sports complex aims for new building

The Wildhorse Sports Association hopes to erect its first new permanent structure at the Amundson Sports Complex with a combination concession stand, restrooms and changing rooms.

Erika Lawyer, president of WSA, and her husband, Nick, put up a large sign at the sports complex Saturday, thanking its supporters for their help. The nonprofit organization has been collecting money for the last year and has raised around $100,000, starting with $5,000 from an anonymous donor, said Lawyer, who's been with WSA since it began 11 years ago. The complex, which used to be the old Plains airport, now has four baseball/softball fields and three soccer fields. It took them a year to start the fields after they formed their nonprofit status and about eight years to complete all the fields with underground irrigation. The former runway is used for three permanent basketball hoops, although Lawyer said they just received four more.

"We're super excited about having these locker rooms and restrooms. We've been looking at different plans for about a year," said Lawyer. The WSA has been spending $3,000 a year on portable restrooms. "We used to be OK with two or three units, but when you host 15 home teams every spring and 10 or so teams every fall and they have double headers and multiple towns it gets pretty busy out there," she said. "And nobody likes peeing in a port-a-potty, but they're a necessity," said Lawyer.

Lawyer said the complex has come a long way and gets used almost year round. It has other structures on the premises, old airport storage buildings and hangars and a small building that was moved from the Sanders County Fairgrounds after the motocross races ended there several years ago. A portion of one of the hangars and the old motocross structure are used for concessions during special events.

Lawyer believes it will take around $200,000 to do the new building. The structure will have five rooms and be placed almost in the center of the complex between ball fields along the road facing west. It will have restrooms, changing and shower rooms, and a large space for concessions. Contractors and Plains residents Raf Viniard and John Thurston. She said they have had local contractors interested in donating time and skills to the project.

There are no fundraising events planned at this point, but Lawyer said they'd like to start construction sometime this summer. Those who would like to donate to the building project could send a tax-deductible donation to Box 4, Plains, MT 59859. WSA might pursue grant money to help pay for the building.

"We just spread the word and put a fundraising thermometer out there and it got kick started by some local folks, who said they would match the first $5k we raised," said Lawyer, who added that after the first couple donated $5,000, another couple matched that amount. In addition, former Plains resident Alvin Amundson contributed again. Amundson donated his house when the project began, giving it a huge boost. "He has always believed in the value the complex brings to the community and that is why it is named the Amundson Sports Complex," said Lawyer.

Lawyer said the complex was a badly needed site for community sports. "The school was home to softball and baseball and soccer at first and there was a field out by the hospital that we literally would have to rebuild a mound on so both softball and baseball could use it. It was a pain," she said, adding that the school wanted their space back for track and high school softball was added and needed space. Amundson Sports Complex now hosts sports events from T-ball to adult softball, along with youth soccer and American Legion baseball. Plains High School uses the Legion field for its newly established baseball team.

"I think people see the value in having it here and that's why they continue to buy the advertising signs and support it," said Lawyer. "It wouldn't be sustainable without the community volunteers who put countless hours into maintaining it."