Athletic teams from western North Dakota are becoming familiar with sports facilities in eastern Montana.
As snow slowly melts but continues to clog baseball and softball fields, cities such as Glendive, Mont., and Sidney, Mont., have opened their doors to many teams -- especially those in Dickinson.
The nearly 100-mile trek west continues today when Dickinson State and Valley City State play baseball and softball at adjacent fields on the campus of Dawson Community College and the DSU and University of Mary track and field teams co-host a meet at Dawson County High School.
Today marks the fifth trips to Glendive for both the Blue Hawk baseball and softball teams.
"Going over there is not the most ideal. But on the other hand, it's somewhere dry and somewhere with no snow," said DSU softball coach Guy Fridley, who is two games away from the 200-win milestone.
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DSU athletic director Roger Ternes said the department's budget isn't taking much of a hit since the trip to Glendive is more cost effective than a three-day trip to play Dakota State in Madison, S.D., which often ends up costing as much as $5,000 after hotel rooms and meals are factored in.
"All in all, we think it's going to balance out because of the other trips that have been canceled," Ternes said.
On Thursday, Dickinson High openeds baseball season with doubleheader sweep against Mandan at Glendive's American Legion field while Dickinson Trinity attended a track and field meet hosted by Wibaux, Mont., at DCHS.
The Midgets' track and field team went to a meet in Sidney and the softball team played a recenlty added doubleheader at Glasgow, Mont.
Dickinson High activities director Calvin Dean said the trips to Montana are having a slight impact in the school's athletic budget but equated it to making several trips to Bismarck, which is roughly the same distance from Dickinson as Glendive.
Dean, as well as Ternes, said scheduling officials and umpires and paying them to travel extra miles are two of the handful of disadvantages of making the trips to Montana.
"We're trying to do some things where it doesn't have as big an impact on budgets as one might think," Dean said.
Dawson CC baseball coach Brent Diegel has been working closely with DSU baseball coach Duane Monlux and other coaches from around the Dakota Athletic Conference as they try to fit in games around his team's schedule.
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"It's not a big thing," Diegel said. "Of course, I think if we were in the same situation, Duane over at Dickinson would do the same thing for us."
Diegel added that the economic impact from the influx of games has been small but noticeable.
"It's a boost to our economy," Diegel said. "These teams are spending some money in town, and I know our hotels and restaurants have seen some benefit."
According to The Weather Channel, temperatures around the Dickinson area aren't expected to get much higher than 50 degrees over the next 10 days, making it almost certain that teams will be travelling to eastern Montana a few more times.
That forecast isn't stopping Dean from thinking positive though.
"Hopefully in the next couple weeks we'll be back to normal here and everybody will be hosting things at their own sites," Dean said.
