THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Volunteers still make Little League a go in North Idaho

Mariah Martindale wears a lot of hats, and she gets a lot of help. 

Others wear a lot of hats as well,

In addition to her full-time job as a social worker, Mariah helps with many facets of Lake City High athletics — from concessions to fundraising to making sure the game-day appearance at Lake City is just right. 

These days, she’s busy as administrator of the Idaho District 1 Little League, which is in its postseason tournaments in baseball and softball, doing a little bit of everything. 

“Heck, one of the managers for one of the tournament teams thought this was my actual paid job,” she said. “They didn’t realize until our meeting a few weeks ago I am also a volunteer and have a ‘day job.’” 

In addition to her “day job” and the above-mentioned duties, Martindale also finds time to watch her two sons play sports — one in college, one at Lake City.  

This week, the spotlight is on the Canfield Sports Complex in Coeur d’Alene, which will host the best-of-3 state baseball playoffs in three divisions (12U, 11U and 11U) starting Friday. 

In 12U (Little League), Post Falls will play District 2 champion West Valley of Eagle, Star and Middleton, and surrounding areas. 

In 11U, Post Falls takes on Southwest Ada of Meridian, Boise and Kuna. 

In 10U, Coeur d’Alene faces West Valley of Boise. 

In all three tourneys, Game 1 is Friday, Game 2 is Saturday and Game 3, if necessary, is Sunday. 

In 12U, the state champ advances to the Northwest Regional in San Bernardino, Calif. — one step before the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Post Falls last made it to San Bernardino in 2012. 

In 11U and 10U, state is the end of the road. 

IF YOU follow Little League district tournaments in North Idaho closely, you have noticed the change in tourney formats — from pool play with a “final four” to bracketed, double-elimination play. 

“The reason we changed it this year is honestly because of volunteer availability,” Martindale said. 

Going from pool play to bracket play shortened the tournaments and cut the total number of games roughly in half.  

“Last year I had 21 volunteer district umpires to cover games over three weekends of baseball and softball,” Martindale said. “This year I have nine district umpires. I even have umpires coaching teams because they are the league’s UIC (umpire in chief) and the league did not have enough people volunteer to coach, so that individual coached and umpired this (past) weekend.” 

She said it takes a total of nine volunteers per game to cover all game duties — and that doesn’t count Martindale, who as tournament director is present for every game, as well as the host site director who coordinates all the volunteers, concessions and umpires.

“Getting volunteers has been more and more difficult every year,” Martindale said. “So we thought if we reduced by one weekend, we would get more willing bodies.” 

This is also the reason part of the 12U, 11U and 10U baseball district tourneys started in Hayden and finished in Lewiston.  

All area Little Leagues are welcome to bid for district tournaments, and Hayden, Lewiston and Coeur d’Alene put in for this year. 

“Lewiston does a great job getting volunteers and is always the ones traveling, so this year I decided to break up the locations and give Lewiston championship weekend,” Martindale said. “Whether leagues have teams advance or not, they are still responsible for hosting once they have committed.  

“I did not have any league put in to host for softball districts which means I, as the DA (district administrator), host it and I had to track down a field —one school wanted to charge me $1,400 for two days of field use. Plus my family (husband Cory, and sons Camdyn and Michael) steps up as my ‘tournament committee’ to cover all the volunteer duties, so it's a lot to say the least.” 

BUT IT’S a labor of love for Martindale and all the other volunteers who can donate their time. 

As Martindale says, “Can’t run Little Leagues without them.” 

Hayden, at Croffoot Park, has been a great host for districts and state over the years, and Coeur d’Alene, at Canfield Sports Complex, has done a nice job as well, hosting districts.

“First time in my 16 years in Little League they've had state,” Martindale said of Coeur d’Alene. “I was delighted to give it to them though — they've earned it with their commitment year after year to hosting pool play. It'll be a great weekend.” 

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports.