All dressed up, nowhere to play
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

The boys of summer are out in full force, swinging bats and sliding into home at Gulf Breeze Sports Association fields on Shoreline Drive.

But the girls of summer, the softball players, are unable to practice or play on their fields which were supposed to be ready in time for the season to begin in mid-March.

Softball commissioner Rick Hawthorne said the delay is causing a major headache for scheduling, as the schedule was based on having two completed softball fields.

"I was told all the way up to the 20th that the fields would be ready the 24th. If we had known two weeks ago, we could have done the schedule," Hawthorne said. "We're advising coaches daily about schedules and practice," Hawthorne said. "It's a scheduling nightmare."

Gulf Breeze Director of Parks and Recreation Ron Pulley said he knows the softball crowd is angry. "If there was any error, it was mine, being overly optimistic about the targeted completion date," he said.

"Thankfully, Tiger Point (sports association) has been very gracious, allowing us to move all the inter-league games down there," Hawthorne said. Intraleague games, however, are being fitted into the baseball schedule wherever they can be wedged.

The softball program was promised that two of the four fields would be ready for play at the beginning of the season.

"I asked for two fields. If I had two fields, I could complete the season," Hawthorne said. Now, he said, there's no practice fields or space available for games. "The kids are the ones who are suffering."

About 120 girls are registered to play softball at GBSA on 12 teams. The softball fields were severely damaged when debris from Hurricane Ivan and later, Hurricane Dennis, was piled there and burned.

Pulley said the fields were compacted by the sheer weight of the 60-foot high debris pile, and the process to remove remaining imbedded debris scraped off two feet of topsoil.

The city planned to move the football field and replace softball fields, and the dirt from the new football field was used to bring the softball fields up to grade.

The project had the benefit of good weather, but the new projection for the fields is a month away, in mid-April, halfway through the softball season.

"I've watched those fields. The land crew people did a jam- up job, the lighting people did a jam-up job, the electric people did a jam-up job; it all comes to the fence. If you go out there now and see how many people are working on the fence, you'll see two to three people," Hawthorne said.

Pulley said the work is being done in stages, with fence poles being put in the ground and concreted, then welding the crossbars before stringing the fence across the frame. He promised that three crews would be working this week to finish fencing.

"There's not a single one that wants those girls out there more than I do," Pulley said, adding "Those guys are working like Trojans down there. There's so much to do, coordinating land work, fences, underground electrical, irrigation, concrete and sod … it's an ordeal."

EDITORIAL NOTE - Look for a recap of opening week action from GBSA and Tiger Point Parks in the April 5 issue of the Gulf Breeze News.