Thanks to parents, a Little League has slice of heaven
The Southwest Little League carves a niche on Tierra Verde after four fields at the beaches just wouldn't do.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published March 3, 2004
[Times photos: Bob Croslin]
Alex Perna, right, and Kyle Kifong watch the game between the Rangers and Red Sox in the ninth inning Saturday. Those teams and the Pirates played an exhibition game at the new field.
Stewart Wilkes of the Rangers, son of "lobbyist" Richard Wilkes, takes a practice swing in the matchup with the Red Sox. Southwest Little League parents raised at least $75,000 for the field.
Richard Wilkes got the ball rolling four years ago.
Parents will add perks as money trickles in, said Mike Kinter.
TIERRA VERDE - To inaugurate a baseball field built with their ingenuity and hustle, the celebrities throwing out the first pitches Saturday were Southwest Little League parents. Making the ceremonial strike calls was Jerry Crawford, Tierra Verde resident and major league umpire.
Red, white and blue bunting crested the chain-link fences down the lines. Moments later, teams of 10- to 12-year-old boys in Red Sox and Ranger uniforms were playing hardball.
Richard Wilkes, 52, the veterinarian who got the effort rolling four years ago, recalled how this plot of land west of the Pinellas Bayway toward Fort DeSoto looked then: "Brazilian peppers and sand spurs."
Population growth along the beaches had the league bursting at the seams with close to 400 players, ages 5 to 16, sharing four fields. Coaches and players faced a chancy situation scheduling practices or games.
Zach Simmons, a catcher for the Red Sox, waited an extra hour with his team to play in a December tournament because the game ahead of them ran long. "It was, like, 50 degrees, which made it annoying," said Simmons, 12.
Andrew Roy, 10, a shortstop and pitcher for the Rangers, recalls a time he grabbed his baseball shoes before the commute to practice at Egan Park on Blind Pass Road. But in his haste, he snatched two left shoes.
After Wilkes' early lobbying of the County Commission, an agreement emerged: The residents would hold a license agreement, tantamount to a lease, for the county land at $1 a year for five years. They would have to raise the money for the field on their own.
Saturday's exhibition games between the Red Sox, Pirates and Rangers showed that the project has all but matured. Two dugouts need roofs. That afternoon, volunteers planned to spread crushed brick around the bullpens. There are no bleachers yet.
"We'll build it as we get (the funds)," said retired pharmacist Mike Kinter, 57. Parents raised at least $75,000 for the Tierra Verde Recreation Complex through a pair of golf tournaments at Isla del Sol, as well as corporate and private donations. Eventually, organizers hope for a concession stand with restrooms.
Lights remain another layer of permission slips away, Wilkes said, starting with the county. "That's in never-never land."
While on business in High Point, N.C., Wilkes came across a sculpture he thought would be perfect for the park. He bought it and had it shipped down; it sits on a concrete pedestal shaped like a baseball diamond. The bronzed life-sized sculpture depicts six children, one wearing a baseball glove, in the bleachers watching a game.
The regular season starts soon.
"I hope this will be a catalyst for (Tierra Verde) to become a neighborhood," Wilkes said.
