ARLINGTON — As volunteers worked on the Cal Kinney baseball field adjacent to the Arlington & Boys & Girls Club, the morning’s gray clouds threatened to prove the point of their construction project.

Fortunately for the nearly 50 volunteer employees and family members of the Seattle-based BNBuilders, the weather held out on June 25, and even broke into warm sun in the afternoon, while they completely rebuilt the baseball field’s existing dugouts and batting cages.

“This would have easily been a $30,000 job if we’d had to pay for it ourselves, and we just don’t have the money,” said Terry Freeman, associate director of development for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County. “It’s amazing that a company from Seattle would come all the way up north to Arlington to help out our kids.”

BNB Executive Assistant Makenna Sherer explained that a seven-person crew labored through the week leading up to that Saturday to do the preliminary work on the site. The existing batting cages and dugouts were torn down on June 20, while June 21 saw columns set in the holes that had been dug the previous day. Cement was poured on June 22, while much of the structural work went up on June 23 and 24.

“And by tonight, kids will be able to have batting practice in this field,” BNB founder Brad Bastian said on June 25.

BNB Project Executive Jeff Sebenik credited structural engineer Ron Roberts with designing the new dugouts and batting cages, which had their new roofs installed on June 25.

“With our glorious Pacific Northwest weather, one of the big concerns was that kids only had a limited window to play baseball, mostly during the summer, without too much risk of rain. This gives them a few more months of playing time.”

Arlington Boys & Girls Club Director Bill Kinney, who was cooking hamburgers and hot dogs for his all-volunteer labor force on June 25, noted that “at least half” of the baseball practices that are usually scheduled at the Cal Kinney baseball field wind up being canceled due to rain.

“There have been times when it’s just been pouring down rain, and these kids have had to put blue tarps over the dugouts just to play,” Freeman said. “This renovation adds value to our Boys & Girls Club here.”

Sherer thanked a number of BNB’s suppliers with donating finances and materials for the construction project, while Sebenik described the new batting cages as much stronger and more expansive than before.

“Before, it was kind of just a steel post system that was held together with rickety fencing,” Sebenik said. “Now, you can conduct two batting practice sessions at the same time, and between that and the areas for soft-toss, 10 people could be playing in and around those cages at once.”

“This is the kind of thing that makes Arlington a great community for kids,” said Freeman, as volunteers also painted the baseball field’s storage shed. “We still need even more people involved to help make a difference for our kids. If we can get the whole community to use this field and these cages, that’s what it’s all about.”