A team of volunteers came together to restore the AAA field and dugouts at Siltanen Park in Scotts Valley just in time for the opening of the baseball season this year, and the father who spearheaded the drive has been thrust into the spotlight.
But Leigh Krilanovich, the 41-year-old assistant coach of the local Giants team, said he doesn’t want the praise.
“I want to give credit to all the other volunteers that helped,” said Krilanovich, in an interview on Monday, “—just give light to the fact that what we did was a really cool thing for the community; and we did it solely for the intention to make (the ballfield) better for our kids.”
The baseball surfaces at Siltanen have been beleaguered over the years in part due to the complicated ownership structure by the Scotts Valley Unified School District and the City of Scotts Valley and the usual challenges involved in funding recreational youth sports leagues.
Krilanovich said their field—the AAA one next to Vine Hill Elementary School, which is owned by SVUSD—had quite a bit of work to eliminate the ground squirrels that had burrowed plenty of heel-inviting holes in the area in recent years.
But the bases, gravel and dugouts were in rough shape.
There were holes in the dugout roof that extended all the way down to the plywood. Many of the trusses were failing.
“It had been bugging me,” he said. “And I wasn’t able to make the volunteer cleanup days, so I said, well, I guess I’ll do my part and rebuild the dugouts.”
As the owner of Scotts Valley-based Krilanovich Woodworks, he knew a thing or two about completing this sort of job.
Mike Fellmen, who lives over the hill in Scotts Valley, donated about $900 worth of roofing supplies. And Scarborough Lumber in Scotts Valley hooked up a great deal on the rest of the materials, which was paid for by the league.
“Every time I went to a game, I would see how poorly those dugouts looked,” Krilanovich said. “And I just thought it needed to be done. I have the skills to do it, and felt motivated—thought that was a great way to give back to the little league, and back to the community.”
The initiative kicked off in January, after the winter rains had paused.
Brandon Rose, one of his employees, also helped out with the project. Carlos Hunt and Jodie Smith did quite a bit of the fieldwork.
“There were a lot of guys that came by and helped,” he said. “There are a ton of people that I could mention, but just want to give appreciation to everyone that showed up and did what they could, when they could.”
Giants head coach Ed Guzman took part in the construction, as well as Justin Nordgreen, another local resident.
Krilanovich’s neighbor lent them an airless paint-sprayer.
“We painted everything really well,” he said, noting they put three coats on the exposed wood. “It should be pretty resistant to rot.”
His son Billy did plenty of nailing of the roof.
“It was a little frightening how good at swinging a hammer he is,” he said.
He even roped his wife Alicia into the effort.
“She helped with all the paint prep,” he said. “She was doing a lot of the sanding and cleanup work.”
For Krilanovich, this was about more than just sprucing up a basic community asset. It’s about improving key infrastructure that helps to give kids a place to play with their peers and develop important social skills.
“There’s so many benefits for these kids to play baseball—the trial and the error, and the failure and overcoming, and so many skills that they can learn just from the game,” he said. “There’s so many positives that come out of it.”
It turned out to be “a little bit more than I bargained for,” he admitted.
But after days upon days of effort, the field was ready to go. Just in time for the start of the season.
And on March 7, the Giants took to the field for the first time in 2026.
According to Krilanovich, however, the kids didn’t seem to really notice the better facilities. And within a few hours, the white walls of the dugout he’d renovated were already covered in little red handprints.
“I just cracked up,” he said. “Doesn’t bother me a bit. I just loved that the kids are having fun.”
They even won their first game, 6-1.
