Elijah Dukes was benched and fined $500 by the Nationals for arriving late to the ballpark after attending a Little League event over the weekend. The League plans to pay the fine as a token of thanks for the time Dukes spent with more than 500 little leaguers. "The next day we're reading the paper, and we're hearing he was [fined and] benched," said Leslie McClain, mother of one of the players. "We were just really horrified by that, so our first thought was we want to raise the money in the community to pay that fine. We just think it's appalling." Jim Mraz, president of the Great Falls Little League, says he'll deliver the money directly to the Nationals for the fine. The money will be raised through a fundraiser, and anything raised over the amount will be donated to the Southeast D.C. Little League in Dukes's name. "The point is, this guy gave back to our community, and now he's in a hard spot. We need to help him," said Mraz. "It's not a question of whether this guy can afford the 500 bucks. We're just trying to send a message to our kids: He was here for us. Now we've got to be there for him."