Dugout blows over during Sunday storm

The storm that descended upon Washington early Sunday morning was so strong that it blew a dugout at Stewart Elementary School into the street. City crews responded later that day and pushed the debris out of Fourth Avenue and onto the grass where the eastern-most dugout of the east diamond once stood. A group of volunteers got together Wednesday afternoon to take apart the dugout and haul it away.

Washington High School Principal Erik Buchholz said he learned of the dugout?s collapse through a text message Sunday.

?Shawn Ellingson sent me a text Sunday morning,? Buchholz said. ?I didn?t believe it. I thought he was joking. I thought he was pulling a fast one on me.?

Buchholz is a member of the Washington Area Softball Association (WASA) and was the president of the association a few years ago. He said WASA volunteered to clean up the debris.

?That was a call that I made,? Buchholz said. ?Our custodians need to spend time getting ready for the new students. It was easier to say, ?Custodians, do your stuff and I?ll find volunteers to do this.??

Buchholz, Chris Linnenkamp, Brett DeWolf and Troy Suchan got together Wednesday to take the dugout apart and put the pieces in DeWolf?s dump truck.

?Without those three, we wouldn?t have gotten it done,? Buchholz said. ?Without Brett?s truck, we would have had a heck of a time hauling the debris away. Chris brought his tools and Troy brought a uniloader to break up the roof.?

Brett?s son Bryce DeWolf and Bryce?s friend Shay Sojka used hammers and a small crowbar to take the boards apart.

?We got all the debris cleaned up,? Buchholz said. ?We went through it with a magnet to pick up nails. We raked through grass and picked up all the shingles.?

Buchholz said Linnenkamp was going to put together a bid proposal. He said a local company has offered to donate building supplies for a new dugout. He said the Washington School Board will consider a proposal to help cover the expenses. The members of WASA have agreed to donate their labor to rebuild the dugout.

The dugouts on the east diamond of Stewart have only been there one year. They were moved there last August from the varsity softball diamond by the junior high.

Buchholz said he hopes the new dugout will be in before November.

?It will take a little while to get it done,? he said. ?If we can have it done by Oct. 1, that would be great.?

The new dugout will not be ready for a one-day tournament WASA is hosting on Aug. 20. Washington will be the site of softball games all day long. The softball teams will use Redlinger Field, the west diamond at Stewart Elementary, the diamond at Lincoln Elementary and perhaps even the new varsity field.

?We have other teams trying to get in,? Buchholz said. ?If more teams come that we can?t fit in, we?ll probably have to use the varsity softball field.?

There will be two age brackets playing softball that day. The 10-and-under division will play its games at Stewart west and at Redlinger Field. The 12-and-under division will play at Lincoln and at the varsity field.

Buchholz said that, at one time, the event was known as ?Swing and Splash? because the invitees would play softball during the day and then retire to the swimming pool in the evening.