HYL donates $15,000 for fields

The money will help pay for lighting at a sports complex in Spring Hill that is being built to allow more children to play baseball.

By GREG AUMAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 28, 1999

In a move that will help get more baseball fields up and ready for next spring, the Hernando Youth League is donating $15,000 to the county to help pay for lighting at a sports complex being built on Anderson Snow Road in Spring Hill.

League officers will hand the county a check today in the name of the Spring Hill Dixie League, and this spring they expect that money to allow them to accommodate more 5- to 12-year-olds by scheduling games at night. The league juggled more than 300 players on a single field at the Little Red Schoolhouse this season, and with at least two and potentially three lighted fields expected to be ready at Anderson Snow Road, scheduling should be much easier.

"Our Spring Hill division has been hurting, trying to field 25 to 30 teams on one field," said HYL secretary and treasurer David Donato, who has served on the league's board for five years. "We had games running six days a week, every weeknight and all day Saturday, and there's only so many kids you can have on one field."

Donato said the $15,000 donation represented about half of a reserve the league has kept from fundraisers and donations. The total cost of adding lighting at the sports complex is expected to be between $50,000 and $55,000, according to Pat Fagan, the county's assistant public works director for facilities. Fagan said the county is applying for a Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program grant to help with the rest of the costs.

"The $15,000 will come in very handy," Fagan said. "We already have two of the fields sprigged, and we're starting the process of taking bids on the sidewalks and restrooms and everything else. This is the main thing on our plate right now."

Fagan said this donation is the first major donation toward the Anderson Snow fields, though one contractor has offered to donate $2,500 in concrete for use at the complex. At least two of the complex's four fields will be ready when the HYL's spring season begins in March.

"They will have priority usage of the fields for the first year, and after that we'll look at the schedule and determine if we will be able to support other leagues out there," Fagan said.

The HYL has more than 1,300 children competing in sports, including about 800 in baseball in Brooksville and Spring Hill. The cooperative effort on the fields in Spring Hill is a continuation of the relationship the county and the HYL have forged at Brooksville's Ernie Wever Park.

"The county does an excellent job and has been great about maintaining the fields as well," said HYL president Cliff Manuel. "This is an excellent area for a ballpark, with good topography and drainage. Now that it's all finally started, it's perfect."

Donato said the recent progress at Anderson Snow Road, combined with the 10-year lease the YMCA signed this summer to use the fields on Deltona Boulevard, should give youth baseball a major boost in the Spring Hill area.

"It's good to see anything that brings more recreational opportunities to children," Donato said. "I'd love to see 500 kids playing in the Hernando Youth League and another 500 playing with the YMCA."

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