Remembering Shari

Group fundraising to give Clevenger Park a facelift and honor the woman behind it

One sunny evening in the first week of June, Clevenger Park in the Heights was abuzz with activity. Parents set up camp chairs all over the field to cheer on their girls as the Little League softball season drew to a close. It was the Tournament of Champions, a chance for teams to punch their tickets to the state championship.

Off to the corner of one of the fields, former umpire Mike Toth watched the action. As a member of the Heights National Little League board, he’s on a mission to, first, revamp and bring new life to these softball fields and, second, make sure the community knows who this field is named after — Shari Clevenger, a mom who fought to bring girls fast pitch softball to Billings in the 1970s.

“Little League International at the time had no organized league for girls,” Mike says. “So, Shari took it upon herself to get sponsors, to approach the school to supply the fields, to get coaches and then get girls to join a team. It was all volunteer and it was crazy. She did it all on her own.”

In the words of Shari’s daughter, Conni Zoellner, “She stood up for the girls so that they could have a team. I think that’s pretty cool. It helped put us on the map in Billings.

Shari named the league the Heights Softball Association, and while games started solely in the Heights in 1971, eventually teams started forming citywide. It wasn’t until 1974, however, that Little League International would add softball to the mix.

“In essence, she was ahead of her time,” Mike says.

Growing up in the Heights, Mike had played baseball at Clevenger. It wasn’t until he started umping, however, that he wondered how the park got its name.

“I knew there was a reason that it was named Clevenger, but I didn’t know the whole story,” he says. Being a private investigator, his natural curiosity got the best of him.

“I pulled all the old news articles and saw the pictures of Shari. I started doing research and thought, ‘wow.’ I was shocked. Even the city didn’t have a clue about the name,” Mike says.

Shari was the mother of four kids, and by all accounts she was a go-getter. Besides coaching two softball teams, she was a dance teacher, a Boy Scout leader, the vice president of the PTA and an involved member of her church. She was 35 years old in 1975 when a drunk driver plowed head-on into the family vehicle on US 87 on the Fourth of July. Shari was killed in the crash.

Within days of her death, the players on her team approached the school district, which owned the softball fields. They wanted the fields dedicated in Shari’s honor, and it was officially named Clevenger Park.

“It was a very traumatic time in our lives,” says Shari’s daughter, Lori Christianson. “My dad was just coming home from the hospital. My brother was still recovering. We were all a little bit numb at that point. It wasn’t long after she passed that they did all of this.”

On July 19, 2025, Clevenger Park will celebrate 50 years in the community.

“We should be honoring her memory,” Mike says.

A few months ago, Mike hit the ground running, trying to make community connections as he fashioned a plan to give the fields a major facelift. It was evident to him the park needed it.

“They are very small and unsafe,” Mike says as he points to the aging wooden bleachers. The renovation plan calls for metal bleachers with additional seating and safety rails.

“There’s no shade, so it would be our dream to create shade with some awnings.” There are also plans for a new backstop. “The backstop now is too short and the welding is coming apart,” Mike says, adding that people who sit in the bleachers are in danger of being hit by foul balls because of the fence’s low height. The new plan calls for netting to be installed to protect spectators. Valley Federal Credit Union has already agreed to pitch in to improve the dugouts.

“They will have a helmet and cubby hole for them to hang their bags and jackets on,” Mike says. “And, they will have a nice bench instead of a couple of boards set on cinder blocks.”

The overall price tag for renovations is roughly $150,000 and the mission is to have all the money raised by the time the field turns 50.

“We also want to have a memorial for Shari,” Mike says.

That’s music to the ears of not only her family but to her players, many of whom still call Billings home.

“I was thrilled to hear because you know Shari wanted us to have good playing spaces,” says Rene Beyl, who played on one of Shari’s softball teams. “My daughter played on those fields and now she’s in her late 30s. Through that, I paid it forward by coaching softball,” Rene says. “I played for 30-some years. It was exciting to look back now and say, ‘Wow, this is what Shari created.’”

Jeannine Brant echos Rene’s thoughts. She says softball brings memories of Shari and her team, “Hager Brother’s Eggs,” and of riding across town on her bike to get to practice every day, and even a state championship title.

“It was really exciting because it was just the beginning of girl’s fast pitch softball,” Jeannine says, adding that for her it was a family affair. Her dad helped out with the team and her mom was often the scorekeeper at games. “What Shari started we are still enjoying today.”

“It’s just time to freshen it up,” Rene says, “and do better for the league and for the girls.”