How Sweet It Is

WALLA WALLA - As the sun angled in from the west, casting its golden evening warmth over Borleske Stadium, Sweets fans began to fill the bleachers, food courts and beer gardens for the first game of the 2011 season Friday.

Waitsburg eighth grader Shayla Tsosie was there with her aunt Christina Record from Walla Walla and Record's boyfriend David Wahlstrom on leave from Iraq.

" There's nothing like opening night in baseball," Wahlstrom said. "I don't care if it's the major league, the minor league or this (West Coast) league.

"It's a feeling," he said. "It's the start of spring."

On one of the first warm and sunny days of spring, baseball fans from throughout the Touchet Valley took the drive to Walla Walla this weekend to mark the Sweets' season opener against the Corvallis Knights.

They noticed a number of changes to the stadium as the team's organization took the months leading up to Friday's game to make improvements, some with a local connection.

New bleachers, bringing the seating to nearly 2,400 from 1,600, have been added behind center and right fields. The stands now include a press box and "premier" seating behind home plate.

A second beer garden featuring drafts from Waitsburg's Laht Neppur brewery has been added to right field. Sweets drinks server Jorden Bovos predicts the local taps, local wines and shaded view of the outfield will go over well with fans.

The stadium's expansion should come as no surprise. Walla Walla led the West Coast League in attendance with 126,865 fan visits during the team's first year in 2010. The goal for this year is 200,000. With Friday's attendance at 1,742 (142 more than the old seating arrangement would have accommodated), the season appears to be off to a good start.

"This town was hungry for baseball," said John Junke, Sweets manager of ticket sales and service. "These fans are here to stay."

The 60-day season includes 33 home games, the first three of which were played this weekend. The regular season lasts through Aug. 10.

Last year, the games drew great American pass time lovers from as far as the Booker Rest Home in Dayton. Waitsburg Mayor Walt Gobel has been trying to get a group together from his hometown to share a section in the stands.

Duane Wollmuth and his wife Mary, who lives on Biscuit Ridge, are among dozens of local households hosting visiting players in exchange for tickets to the home games.

"We bought season tickets this year," said Waitsburg's Dan Bickelhaupt, a longtime baseball fan who showed up at opening night with daughters Jill and Anne. "As you get older, this sport has the right pace."

Anne had her personal reason to be there. The '99 Waitsburg graduate who now teaches at Wa Hi is dating team manager J.C. Biaji, though she said she was already a fan before the two were an item.

"J.C. has been up late getting ready for the season for the past three months," she said. "They've done a lot to the stadium. The team has improved too. They had a year to grow."

The improvement was immediately evident the first game. The Sweets won it 8-0.

But the timeless joy of the opening night experience was as much of a victory for fans as the outcome of the ball game.

The rituals returned to Borleske with Mike Dunham, owner of Dunham Cellars, throwing the first pitch and members of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival filling the smokey fragrant air around the field with their string rendition of the national anthem.

"Let's play ball," the announcer's time-honored suggestion rolled around the stands. With Ryan Richardson's first pitch to Knights batter Scott Kramer, the second Sweets season was underway and Touchet Valley fans were glad they came.

"You can't miss opening night," Dan Bickelhaupt said.