Local Sports

By CINDY MALLETTE And JOE BUIE
Staff Writers

The Tyler Fastpitch Association will be moving to new fields at Faulkner Park beginning in the spring, city officials announced on Thursday.

Since 2000, TFA — which provides girls 3 1/2 to 18 years of age the opportunity to play softball — has been using fields at Fun Forest Park. It’s a controversial location, according to TFA officials who’ve said the fields are inadequate and in an unsafe area. Fun Forest also happens to be where John Tyler and Robert E. Lee high school girls play softball.

The fastpitch league said it would rather use the fields at Faulkner Park, which is where the Rose Capital West Little League baseball teams play. Only two of the three big fields there get regular use; one is typically used as a practice field.

The baseball league asked the city not to follow through with the request, saying it would limit their ability to hold games and tournaments. In June, Mayor Barbara Bass set up a stakeholders group — made up of city staff and league officials — to try and reach an acceptable compromise.

“This has been a difficult process to work through,” said City Council member Steve Smith, who chaired the group that approved converting the under-used Faulkner Park Field No. 1 into three softball fields.

The stakeholders group considered repurposing a soccer field at Lindsey Park, but found it would be more expensive to convert the existing soccer field and add additional parking and restrooms than it would be to convert the practice field at Faulkner Park.

Smith said the group also felt that moving the fastpitch league to Faulkner would be ideal for parents and fans with children in both baseball and softball.

“This is a good thing and has a great impact for the girls’ softball league,” Smith said. “At the same time, we aren’t taking anything away from the boys’ baseball.”

The stakeholders group nixed another suggestion to work the girls’ league into the current adult softball league schedule at Lindsey Park. Smith said the idea wasn’t viable because, on average, 24 games are usually played on the fields each night. With a total of 720 participants, the capacity of the fields at Lindsey Park would reach its limit.

Several local Little League officials are opposed to the current plan. “We don’t feel like both options were fully explored, and this decision has been sent down the fast track,” said former Rose Capital West vice president Charlie Rippy, who recently transitioned off the board of directors.

Rippy said it cost between $500,000 and $600,000 to build Field 1, and that the current plan is not in the best interest of taxpayers.

He said the plan would also eliminate any chance of playing host to the age 17-18 (Big League) state tournament. Rippy said another potential obstacle is having to share the six-tunnel batting cages with the girls.

“Our preference is to move them to some existing facility at Lindsey Park, which would essentially cost the taxpayers nothing,” Rippy said.

James Vilade, baseball coach and athletic director at the University of Texas at Tyler, is the one who suggested converting Faulkner Park’s baseball practice field into three softball fields.

“We are thankful to Coach Vilade for bringing forth a solution that truly meets the needs of the community,” Smith said.

The plan calls for the repurposing of Field 1 into three fields, one of which will be used as the primary field with two others adjacent to it. City officials say they’ll break ground sometime next week to begin construction on two of the three fields.

“It’s a huge step forward,” said TFA president Anthony Springer. “I’m excited about it. I’d like to have three fields as soon as possible so we could start having tournaments.”

The third field will probably have to wait until next year, when the city is able to work the cost into its budget, unless private donors come forward to help build it sooner, said Parks Manager John Webb.

The first two fields are expected to cost the city $185,000 to $190,000, which will be paid for through a reserve fund the city set aside specifically for construction of softball fields.

Ms. Bass said the cost is reduced by the fact that the city will be able to use existing lighting and other infrastructure with the new fields.

Officials hope to have the first two fields ready in time for the spring season.

“By identifying an underutilized field and repurposing it, we are able to quickly respond to this need while not impacting other users,” Ms. Bass said. “By using existing infrastructure and lighting, the cost will be a fraction of what constructing a new field would be.

We currently have funding earmarked that may be used for this reconfiguration. So, this solution seems the most viable.”

To meet the long-term needs of the softball league, a request will be made to the Parks Advisory Board to consider the development of a fastpitch softball complex on the southeast side of Faulkner Park, according to a press release from the city.

This area for sports fields is included in the Faulkner Park Master Plan.

A future fastpitch complex may include an additional five fields to be used for softball, if warranted, and public/private funding is secured.

“Hopefully, we can get the other five fields going after a couple of years,” Springer said.

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