Loss of softball fields signals squeeze play

Developers are pitching a slider to area baseball and softball leagues that compete with hundreds of teams for playtime on crowded fields.

The proposed redevelopment of softball complexes in Liberty Lake and Post Falls will take eight softball fields out of the lineup, leaving 800 softball teams and several hundred youth baseball teams with fewer safe ball fields.

“There are just not enough fields. Every field that you shut down is obviously going to hurt in some way,” said Clarence “Fuzzy” Buckenberger, regional director of the Spokane Amateur Softball Association.

Post Falls’ 18-year-old Quad Park is closing, eliminating four well-used ball fields. The complex was recently purchased by John DeVries, a developer who plans to build homes on a portion of the 12.8 acres.

Its sale displaced about 150 summer softball and 50 to 60 fall ball teams that played through Quad Park’s private program. Post Falls’ parks and recreation program doesn’t offer softball, so those players will likely join leagues in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and Spokane County.

Coeur d’Alene’s city-run softball program has 130 summer teams and room for 40 more, said Steve Anthony, recreational director for Coeur d’Alene. However, he expects Spokane city and county to get quite a few requests.

Randy Johnson, the county’s recreation program coordinator, has already gotten calls from teams wanting to relocate.

“We expect to have a lot of teams who formerly played at Quad Park coming to play with us in our Spokane County parks program,” he said.

Johnson schedules games for 236 teams in men’s, women’s and coed leagues, which are grouped into competitive divisions and play games on 25 fields owned by the county, area school districts and neighboring cities.

Spokane County’s Plantes Ferry Park has five softball diamonds that are packed May through July. Some fields are so full that Johnson schedules full days of doubleheaders. There’s room for some additional teams, he said, but a huge influx could put a squeeze on fields. If that happens, he said, preference may be given to teams that previously played county ball.

“For the first time ever, we may have to turn some teams away next year,” Johnson said.

In Liberty Lake, the former Sports World complex has also seen its last season.

In 2003, AmericanWest Bank took over a long-term property lease for the 35-acre parcel, which houses four softball fields and Home Plate Restaurant, after the former owner filed bankruptcy. The bank wants to recoup financial losses and applied to Liberty Lake for a change of conditions. On Tuesday, the council approved that request, opening the door for commercial development, including a proposed 55,000-square foot office building on land where the ball fields sit.

AmericanWest Bank allowed Spokane Pony League, a 100-team youth baseball organization that serves kids ages 5 to 14, to use the fields in exchange for a nominal fee and property maintenance.

Any loss of fields is tough because youth baseball programs already struggle to access fields that are level and safe for play, said Brian Allard, commissioner of the Spokane Pony League.

“It’s going to put more of a crunch on the fields that are available for our kids. It’s a big loss for all baseball-related entities,” Allard said.

The county may work with the Pony League to develop two ball fields at the new Bidwell Park, north of Spokane, Johnson said, adding that the youth leagues are feeder systems for the county’s adult softball programs.

“We’re very anxious to help them do well,” Johnson said.

Buckenberger said both the city parks department and the county are supportive of ball programs. The ball field situation would drastically improve, Buckenberger said, if lighting was added to three Franklin Park fields and several more night-accessible fields were built.

“I really think, in the city, we’re about a complex away from making everything fine.”