SPRING VALLEY – In June, Pierce County lost a significant member of the county’s town ball community when Trish Juers died from colon cancer.

Juers could constantly be found following the Spring Valley Hawks, River Falls Fighting Fish and Red Wing Aces throughout her summers, either taking photographs, keeping score, or just socializing with the crowd at the ballparks each game.

In a Facebook post following Juers passing, the Spring Valley Hawks shared the following with their fandom: 'Trish was a fantastic person who had a deep love for baseball, specifically town baseball. We were fortunate enough to have Trish on ‘our side’ most of the time when we took the field, and we can't help but take peace in knowing that she will still be rooting for us. Trish was also the individual responsible for the wonderful photos that you have seen us post on our social media accounts. She truly had a passion for photography and was super talented at it as well!”

Erik Thompson, manager of the Spring Valley Hawks, spoke of his personal connection to Juers and what she meant to the Hawks clubhouse.

“She was very passionate about baseball. She was someone that supported town ball baseball teams and always had something to say about it, you know, whether she was giving people information on a certain team or a certain game or a certain player. She lived for that too, which is awesome. Those are the kind of people you want involved in town baseball,” Thompson said.

Following Juers passing, the Hawks introduced a theme for the remainder of their 2021 season called “Strikeout Cancer.” This theme in honor of Juers has seen a dollar donated for each strikeout the Hawks recorded from July 1 until the end of the season. The Hawks had all contributions donated to the Spring Valley Community Cancer Fund.

Apart from being a fan, Juers also played the game during her days in Dunn County. This league was old school with no gloves and had players dressing up in old school uniforms of the early 1900s. Other passions that Juers had were photography, 4-H and Minnesota High School Hockey. She was often found photographing UW-River Falls or River Falls High School hockey games as well.

According to her obituary, Juers graduated from UW-River Falls with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and a minor in earth science. She worked at Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. KSTP-TV 5 since June 1999 in video production. She was the floor director for the morning news team.

Juers’ legacy will live on for the Hawks clubhouse, especially so with her photography. Thompson spoke of the future reminiscence he and his teammates will have when looking back on photos Juers took of them over the years.

“I think the best memories are the ones that she was able to capture of us through her photography. She was always snapping photos and I know it's always good for guys to see not only now but I'm sure ten to 15 years from now, when we maybe are all done doing playing. To be able to have those things to kind of go back to because we're a pretty close-knit group.”

Thompson also shared that Juers was an unofficial scout for the Hawks, sharing her own scouting reports to the Hawks on other teams she would follow throughout Pierce County.

“We would message each other you know, she'd give me updates about games that maybe you would be interested in,” Thompson said. “A couple guys that we have to play against in Red Wing, for example. She’d feed us some intel on different teams and stuff like that, not that it really makes a big deal, but she was always wanting to kind of do that.”

Juers’ legacy will live on in the lives of the Spring Valley Hawks players and fandom as well as the St. Croix Valley Baseball League. The Hawks shared one final public message on Juers, saying: 'We will certainly do our best to honor Trish and her love for town baseball and the Hawks every time we take the field; knowing she will still have her camera in hand, catching our most photogenic moments. Until we meet again, Trish. Rest in Peace.'

Photo courtesy of Spring Valley Hawks