Goal is to still be playing on SundayThe Powell Babe Ruth All-Stars baseball team will get a distinctive taste of Klamath Falls, Ore., next week, both on and off the diamond. In addition to having to travel to the southwestern Oregon community for regional competition, the All-Stars will also find themselves facing off against two of the local teams on the diamond.The Pacific Northwest Regional tournament begins Monday evening with the tournament opening ceremony. Competition starts the following day with Powell opening against the northern Oregon representative, Hermiston, a community of approximately 15,000 residents. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m., mountain time.

The All-Stars play the Klamath Falls Americans at 11 a.m., Wednesday. The Americans are in the tournament after the Canadian province of British Columbia's champion opted to not travel to the regional tournament.

On Thursday, Aug. 5, Powell faces the tournament host team, Crater Lake/Klamath Falls with an 8 p.m. evening contest. After an off day, Powell concludes pool play in the tournament with a 2 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 7, contest against Kelso, Wash., the southern Washington representive.

Playing in the opposite pool will be teams representing Bayview, Idaho; Central Kitsap, Wash.; South Coast, Ore.; and the champions from Montana and Alberta, Canada. The top two teams from each pool will be cross-bracketed for the Aug. 8 semifinals, with the winners of those two games playing for the regional title later that same day.

The Pacific Northwest Regional champion also advances to the Babe Ruth World Series.

“We'd love to still be playing on Sunday,” said Powell All-Stars coach Pudge Fagan during a Tuesday night Dinner on the Diamond fundraiser for the program. The team is busy in the midst of a fundraising effort to try to raise the estimated $20,000 needed to cover expenses.

The team plans to have a booth set up at the Park County Fair with a radar gun as a carnival game enabling folks to see how fast they can pitch a baseball. Members of the team and their families will also be out in the community requesting donations for the team.

For those not able to make the trip out to Oregon to follow the Powell All-Stars in person, all regional tournament games will be streamed live over the Internet.

“Our plan is to have all those games available live,” said Don Ambers, manager of Kiger Stadium, site of the 2010 Pacific Northwest Regional tournament. “Folks will be able to watch them on our stadium website, www.kigerstadium.com. They might want to check in before the first game to make sure their system is set up to receive the video feed. Some people might have to download a program before they'll be able to see it, so you don't want to wait until game time and then check to see if it works for you.”

For Ambers, next week will mark the seventh regional tournament for which he has served as director.