New pro baseball team reveals name and mascot
The Flathead Valley’s new professional baseball team on Wednesday revealed its brand as the Glacier Range Riders, along with a mountain goat mascot.
The franchise owners at Ridge Run Baseball are currently building a new stadium on the west side of U.S. 93 between Kalispell and Whitefish off McDermott Lane. The franchise will play in the Pioneer Baseball League beginning this May. The home-opener is slated for June 14.
“Inspired by early 20th Century outdoorsmen patrolling the 1.3 million acres that is now Glacier National Park, the name ‘Range Rider’ has deep regional roots,” a press release from the team stated. “These wilderness defenders protected and preserved the area from poachers, wildfires, and timber thieves during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. Their rough-and-tumble role and characteristic toughness influenced the creation of the Range Rider mascot, a yet unnamed mountain goat.”
The new ballpark will provide fixed seating for about 2,500, along with a restaurant, playground, merchandise shop, concessions, family-friendly restrooms and other “casual viewing spaces.” The stadium will also feature LED lighting, a 100% synthetic playing surface, and one of the largest video walls in Montana, the press release added. The Ridge Run Baseball office will relocate to the stadium once completed.
Architects at A&E Design and Morrison-Maierle engineers, alongside the construction crew at Swank Enterprises, are working on the project.
Although the stadium will be operational for the upcoming season’s games, construction is expected to continue through 2022.
The team’s season includes 48 home games, and will begin May 23 and conclude Sept. 10. The home-opener on June 14 is against the Billings Mustangs.
General ticket sales are expected to begin in February. Pre-sale deposits for season tickets are currently being accepted online at gorangeriders.com.
Pioneer Baseball League includes 10 teams in the Mountain West with the addition of Flathead Valley’s Glacier Range Riders. The other Montana teams are located in Missoula, Great Falls and Billings.
Founded in 1939 and restructured in 2020, the league operates under the Major League Baseball umbrella without direct affiliation to a major league club.
Glacier Range Riders is solely responsible for finding and fielding its own players, coaches, and staff and is currently recruiting for its 2022 team.
Ridge Run Baseball and the Glacier Range Riders are owned and operated by the Kelly family. Marty and Susan Kelly founded the collegiate summer wood bat league, Sunbelt Baseball League, in Atlanta in 2007. The Kelly family has spent over 20 years in the Flathead Valley.
