New field offers new opportunity for Silver Valley youth baseball

PINEHURST – A special group of dads and more than a few generous businesses have given Silver Valley kids a quality place to play baseball with the “new” Pastime Park.  

People may have noticed a lot of heavy equipment and other work being completed at the south end of the Pinehurst Elementary School playground over the past year. None of it would’ve happened had it not been for John Heyn saying enough is enough and asking the community to step up.  

Following the 2024 season, Heyn, who coaches youth baseball, decided that it was time to redo the field at Pinehurst Elementary School, so he reached out to a few of the other dads from the team and they started planning.    

“My main thought was, getting hit by a baseball hurts, and this field was in really poor shape,” Heyn said. “Trying to get a kid to stay in front of a ground ball is challenging to begin with, and then when you have to do it over basically a plinko board, it’s damn near impossible.”  

Things got real when Heyn had a meeting at the field with DG&S owner Jeff Nearing.  

“I told him what we were thinking, and he said, ‘It’s a big project, but you want to do it, let’s do it,” Heyn said.  

He could’ve never guessed that his conversation with Nearing would blossom into a full-fledged community project. Businesses, including DG&S, Hecla Mining Co., F&H Mine Supply, North Fork Enterprises, McGillivray Environmental, Basin Resources, and the city of Pinehurst, were just a few of the entities that stepped up to help complete Heyn’s vision. 

"We said it would just be a couple of long weekends, but it kinda just grew," Heyn said. "Each afternoon, a few of us dads would be out here after work helping where we could." 

The new field is entirely up to youth baseball specifications, complete with new grass, dirt, fencing, and a sprinkler system. All of it from donated funds, materials, or labor.  

“This is giving the kids something to be proud of and take care of,” Heyn said. “We want to build life skills for these kids, and having something they can be proud of is an important part of that.”  

The field belongs to the Kellogg School District, which has allowed the local Little League to utilize the facility for decades. Now, it will also be home to the Silver Valley Baseball Club.  

The SVBC was started by Heyn in 2019, when he was coaching baseball at Kellogg High School.  

“It became real apparent to me after the 2020 season that, in order to have good baseball, I needed to get down to the lower levels,” Heyn said.  

The timing also coincided with Heyn’s son being old enough to start playing baseball, so he resigned from his position at KHS and started working with his son’s team.  

Over the years, club or travel baseball has grown in popularity, including in North Idaho, where it has surpassed traditional leagues like Little League, American Legion, and Babe Ruth. While those leagues tend to be more local, club teams travel from city to city, embracing a more competitive style of play that local leagues aren’t always able to offer.

“I want people to know that there’s an alternative here for youth baseball,” Heyn said. “Our plan is to play between 30 and 40 games per season. We want kids who want to be coached and challenged.”  

SVBC will be holding tryouts in the fall for the 2026 season for its 11U and 9U teams.  

Along with the businesses who stepped up, Heyn is also thankful for Kellogg School District Superintendent Lance Pearson, who Heyn said, supported the project from the jump, as well as local operator, Luke Kothe, who played a major role in the project, doing much of the heavy equipment work on the project.    

“Without everyone who helped or supported, this would’ve never gotten done,” Heyn said. “It was truly a community project.”  

For more information, visit the Silver Valley Baseball Club Facebook page.