If you build it, so the famous movie tag line goes, they will come. In Blythewood, “they” are the boys and girls who are eagerly oiling up their gloves and mitts in anticipation of another late summer/early fall on the diamond. And they are already here. All that remains is for us to build it.
For years, there have been barely enough ball fields to go around. Sure, more would be nice for hosting large money-making tournaments, but Blythewood baseball has thrived in the environment that currently exists. This year, however, the boys of summer may be on a collision course with the girls of fall if the adults cannot come to some kind of accord.
With a desire to provide equal athletic opportunities for both genders, the recreation facility at Blythewood Park is busily taking in applications from young girls looking to begin play in September in a softball league, on fields traditionally utilized by the baseball league. With only three fields and around 500 aspiring baseball players, it has been a tight fit for the baseball league as it is. With the addition of a softball
league, things could get downright uncomfortable.
On some issues, the two opposing sides can seem so far apart as to be mutually exclusive in the other’s universe. Fortunately, on the ball field issue, this does not appear to be so. After all, no one wants to be known as the person who killed baseball or softball in Blythewood, and the potential for expedient remedies currently exist, without the necessity of re-inventing any wheels. Ball fields are not sky scrapers. A new one, or two, can be cut out of the earth in a relatively short amount of time, provided the acreage can be secured on which to do so. Barring that, it is not impossible for both leagues to carve up the scheduling in order to use the existing fields, and do so in a way that doesn’t require a 9 p.m. first pitch on any given week night.
While the common sentiment on both sides of the issue is “We can work something out,” the clock is ticking. June is all but gone, and should July come and go without some resolution at least on the table, the grown-ups are going to have some serious explaining to do to a whole lot of kids who, at the end of the day, just want to play ball.
