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Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League pitches new softball complex idea
Continental Park, located on the east side of Flagstaff, is one of the baseball fields used by Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League. (Photo: Paige Daniels)

Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League pitches new softball complex idea

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (BVM) — With its fantastic weather, beautiful scenery and multiple baseball complexes around town, Flagstaff, Ariz., is the perfect place for baseball season. But what about softball?

That is what Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League board member, Chloe Pozar, is trying to figure out. With her concern of a lack of softball fields and complexes, as well as large safety issues surrounding these fields, she is hoping Flagstaff City Council members will hear her idea of building a new six-field complex in the city.

Pozar originally started with fundraising and organizing opening day ceremonies for her league. With four fields located in Flagstaff, and a majority of the softball tournaments taking place on the local baseball fields, Pozar is hopeful that this league will one day be able to hold tournaments that are safe and friendly for everyone.

A primary source of the safety issues occur at Adrian Garcia Sr. Field, located just north of Northern Arizona University’s campus.

“I’ve talked to city council and expressed my concerns about the need for the city to provide the girls little league with a complex for softball,” Pozar said. “We have four softball fields right now, all spread out.”

“Garcia Field is primarily the one I was speaking about. It’s here downtown and the way it is and where it’s located…there are a lot of transients that sleep in the dugouts, in the bathrooms and the playground area. We often find beer bottles and some coaches have even found needles. We’ve had to ask the police to come to remove drunks from the bathrooms…they’re familiar with this.”

Adrian Garcia Sr. Field is located within a residential neighborhood north of Northern Arizona University. (Photo: Paige Daniels)

Kally Vander Valk has been coaching for Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League since her daughter started playing about four years ago. She is also trying to push the idea of a new softball complex along with Pozar.

Having three kids who all play sports in Flagstaff, Vander Valk believes it is extremely important to add a new softball complex to this town.

“Being a mother of multiple children and having to pack up and go to other games and move to other fields raises a little bit more anxiety as a mom to keep your kids all together,” Vander Valk said. “So, I think if we were to have one facility that would definitely be a big knock-off of safety concerns.”

Pozar’s daughter, Izabel, has also seen these safety issues firsthand. When arriving to practice or a game, Izabel’s coach has to examine the field to make sure there are no dangers present, whether that be transients, broken glass, or illegal substances.

Izabel, 12, plays second base and centerfield in the Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League, and is also part of the Flagstaff Scrappers travel team. Her parents were the founders of this travel team — another reason why they continue pushing hard for the new addition of a softball complex in Flagstaff.

“Our coach has to go out there with a bat to make sure that no one got hurt because of anyone hanging out there,” Izabel said.

With parents, players and coaches all expressing safety concerns, Pozar said games and practices throughout the season have been canceled.

“We get there and our games get pushed back because there are people that refuse to leave the dugout of fields,” Pozar said.

In addition to safety issues, poor field maintenance is becoming a large problem as well. The fields lack a draining and sewage system that causes them to constantly flood. Bathrooms are not available at the multiple parks around Flagstaff either, with only portable toilets located at the fields.

Roughly 10 games are canceled each season due to poor field maintenance, such as flooding, or dangers on the field, such as loiterers, illegal substances, etc. This makes it extremely hard for Pozar and the rest of the board members of the league to host home games or tournaments in Flagstaff.

“Continental is built on a flood zone,” Vander Valk said. “I don’t know who was on the decision to build it there, but they obviously didn’t look into the future and see the bigger picture. I know for sure that we want bathrooms and different draining systems. We don’t want to deal with portable toilets and other sanitary issues at the new complex.”

With an open 300-acre plot of land close to Flagstaff Pulliam Airport, Pozar hopes that Flagstaff City Council members will research the implementation of a six-field, clover-shaped complex, accompanied by lights, a large parking lot, and more space in general.

“[The complex] is based off of the complex in Yuma. They just opened this past September and it was beautiful,” Pozar said.

Despite not having many softball fields located in Flagstaff, Pozar and other board members step up and personally groom and update the fields. They have installed backstops, dugout covers and fence-toppers to the Continental Park softball field specifically.

The new softball complex located near Flagstaff’s airport would be funded by taxes if successfully passed by Flagstaff’s City Council. Vander Valk noted that a new tax wouldn’t be implemented. Rather, the Flagstaff Girls Softball Little League would take over a current tax, called FOSPR, which expires soon.