By Matt Decker
Leisure/Sports editor
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Military Families can sing “take me out to the ball game” with free tickets for the Fort Leonard Wood Military Appreciation Day game June 16 at Hammons Field in Springfield, Mo.

The Springfield Cardinals are scheduled to take on the Arkansas Naturals at 6:08 p.m.

Active-duty, National Guard, Reserve, Family members and retirees with military I.D. cards can pick up free tickets from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays at Mid-Missouri Credit Union, located in Bldg. 494 on post.

Non-military personnel can purchase tickets for $5.

This is the seventh year the credit union has sponsored Fort Leonard Wood Military Appreciation Day with the help of several local area businesses, who collectively purchased 2,000 tickets in their annual drive to “put a Soldier in a seat.”

“We’ve done this with a lot of gracious co-sponsors,” said Tracy McCord, the credit union’s senior vice president of marketing.

Fort Leonard Wood will be front and center during the game’s opening ceremonies, which are scheduled to begin at about 5:15 p.m. The post’s Joint Services Color Guard and the 399th Army Band will both be featured, as well as ceremonial first pitches by Fort Leonard Wood senior leaders and service members, and an Army induction ceremony involving 40 new recruits.

Several special events are also in the planning stages, McCord said. However, one feature that has been confirmed is a fireworks celebration immediately after the game presented by AM Pyrotechnics.

“That’s exciting, because normally (the Cardinals) don’t do fireworks on Saturday nights — they only do that on Fridays. But we requested it, and it’s part of the night,” McCord said.

The Springfield Cardinals are the Double-A minor-league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Naturals are the Double-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Both teams play in the Northern Division of the eight-team Texas League.

McCord said there currently are plenty of tickets remaining, but she expects them to go fast.

“Yesterday, we roughly figured that we had 800 tickets out of the original 2,000 left,” McCord said Friday. “Yesterday, the post-wide email announcing the game went out, and we’ve been busier than usual.”

For more information, call Mid-Missouri Credit Union at 329.3151 or the Fort Leonard Wood Public Affairs Office at 563.4145.