Little League Maintaining Someone Else's Fields

officials say they're paying to rent the fields they play on, but are forced to do much of their own maintenance if they want a playable surface.

"The park district never puts any time in out here," said coach Scott Wright, who has taken to mowing the baseball fields at the public park behind every week.

The Cordova Recreation and Park District, which owns the league's fields at , says it can't keep the fields maintained up to the little league's standards.

"We come in and do some general maintenance," Interim District Administrator Doug Critchfield said by phone last month. "They have a certain way they like to keep the fields."

The district has seen declining revenue for the past few years, and .

Critchfield said the district is thankful little league volunteers have chosen to do some maintenance on the fields, but league officials see it as a public agency shirking its responsibilities.

"They always say, 'We're going to bring out our A Team and make it look good before your season starts,' and they never show up," Wright said.

Critchfield described the park district's maintenance at the fields as "general maintenance" like painting over graffiti, repairing fences and taking care of trees. He could not be reached for further comment.

Wright said the playing fields at Rosemont Community Park are rough and uneven, like the grass in the rest of the park–fine if you're walking a dog, but not so good for chasing down ground balls. The conditions leave Rosemont Little League officials salivating when they play an away game.

"Phoenix Field (in Fair Oaks) ... it's beautiful," Wright said. "It looks like a pro field."

He said even though , the baseball fields kids play on now are the same surfaces used decades ago. Wright said the fields are long overdue for a regrading job.

"It's time to upgrade."

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Full disclosure: Last season, Rosemont Patch sponsored a Rosemont Little League team.

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