Newly renovated ball field sees play in Crawfordsville

CRAWFORDSVILLE — For roughly the last decade, a softball and baseball field in the southeastern corner of Washington County went unused. Its dirt infield was replaced by a persistent layer of grass, while vegetation in the outfield grew unevenly, undisturbed by the cleat-wearing footfalls of players running after fly balls.

But this summer, the Crawfordsville ball field has looked good as new. It’s hosted local league games and practices, equipped with regulation-distance bases, pristinely maintained grass in the outfield, a laser-leveled infield, a donated scoreboard and freshly installed lights.

Crawfordsville City Council Member and Middle School Softball Coach Eric Davis helped with the largely volunteer restoration effort. He said the renovation was years in the making, and was already appreciated with the field seeing multiple games a week.

“I’ve grown up here my whole life,” he said. “I played on the field, all my siblings played on the field. There were donations to maintain it from people that have passed away, that’s how long we’ve cared about it as a city. But we just never had games to play on it or anything … to bring that back, and to have our kids play on it, it’s a big deal.”

While much of the work was done by volunteers, the parts that cost money weren’t cheap. The city matched a $15,905 grant from the Washington County Riverboat Foundation for the materials and paid labor required.

Davis said the community was grateful for the volunteer hours and dollars that went into the effort.

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“You just can’t thank them enough, as a city,” he said. “It looks really good right now.”

The field has not only served as a sporting venue this season, but a place for community gatherings. It offers something to do for families in the town, and a stream of revenue at the concessions stand, run by the Crawfordsville Community Club.

It also added a second place to play for members of the WACO Youth Athletic Association, a club for members of the school district which previously held home games only at Bomber Field in Wayland.

Youth Association Softball, Baseball and T-ball director Ryan Davis said the extra location allowed teams to better schedule practices and games. He said Bomber field was starting to get crowded, with the recent additions of varsity and middle school softball to WACO’s lineup, bringing the combined programs up to about 150 kids across age groups.

“We had probably 16 home games in Wayland this year, and 17 nights in Crawfordsville,” he said. “We love it, I don’t have to worry about makeups … it’s a lot easier to make up a home game when I have two availabilities.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com