ROCKLAND — After having a successful May and June with an auction, yard sale and Boston Red Sox tickets raffle, the “Save Oceanside Fields” campaign is picking up even more speed this month. 

The group is presently holding a raffle of four tickets to the Billy Joel concert to be held at Boston’s Fenway Park Wednesday, Aug. 30. The tickets, like the first set of Red Sox tickets, were donated by Jim Brannan. Tickets are being sold at $10 each and can be purchased by calling 207-975-6185.

The group announced on its Facebook page Saturday morning they will also be holding a raffle for four tickets to the Thursday, Sept. 14 Red Sox contest against the Oakland Athletics at Fenway Park at 1:35 p.m. The seats are located along left field in row 12, seats 19-22. The tickets have been donated by Re/Max Jaret and Cohn. Raffle tickets will be $10 each and can be purchased by calling 207-975-6185. The drawing will be held Friday, Sept. 1.

The group, officially known as Oceanside Improvement Fund, Inc., is spearheaded by the organization’s president Doris P. Norton. The non-profit aims to raise money in order to give makeovers to the Robert Morrill baseball field and the soon-to-be Gene Drinkwater softball field. The two fields located on Thomaston Street in Rockland are currently occupied by the district’s middle school diamond squads. The high school teams use fields in Thomaston that were once used by Georges Valley. The plan is to have the varsity teams utilize the Rockland fields and the middle school teams utilize the Thomaston fields upon completion of the renovations.

The group has received school board approval from Regional School Unit 13 to raise these funds and has received school board support to budget “adequate funds to maintain and upkeep these fields once the improvements have been made,” according to a statement posted on the group’s Facebook page.

The organization hopes to have the renovations completed in time for the 2018 season, with regular season games slated to begin in mid-April.

Although total costs for the renovation initially had been calculated to be $425,000, Norton stated in an email Sunday evening that the “budget has changed as we have [been] given more information.” For instance, the group was “able to determine [the] drainage system was working” thanks to the City Public Works Department along with William Leppenan and Jeremy Tolman who “cleaned out [the] catch basin” so the city could smoke tested the drain pipe which resulted in “no breaks or clogs” being discovered. “That study saved us $50,000,” Norton stated.

Norton also noted the group is in the process of getting quotes for dug outs, fences and backstops. 

The group has raised just under $26,000 to date, according to Norton and “hope to raise another $4,000” with the sale of the two raffles. 

Reach George Harvey and the sports department at: sports@penbaypilot.com. 

This article was originally published Saturday, July 8 at 8:30 a.m.