Wasilla Youth Baseball looks for solutions after thefts at home field

WASILLA — Left forced to rebound after yet another theft earlier this summer, Wasilla Youth Baseball is trying to find a solution.

Sometime prior to the 2018 summer season, the Smith Ballfields, the home of WYB was broken into. WYB president Chris Emond filed another report after a separate incident in late June. WYB is looking at solutions to the crime issue, either installing costly security cameras or paying someone to live at the fields all year round to deter thieves and loiterers. Emond said that maintenance workers will often approach people who have parked in the lot and are allegedly using drugs. Emond said that the Wasilla Police Department has agreed to increase its presence there, and WPD Public Information Officer Amanda Graham said that officers and park rangers patrol the area as often as possible, along with the four checks daily on the Bumpus Ballfields, which were also vandalized earlier this summer.

Emond said that WYB is also considering moving all of the valuable items off of the premises during the winter, but then would have to cover storage costs. WYB hosts league play for over 450 kids ages 4-14 during the summer. The Father’s Day Pony League Tournament hosts around 300 players from all around the state, and the end of season All-Star tournaments see some 500 players, parents, and fans use the fields.

In late June, Emond made a call to WPD reporting the left of $13,000 in aluminum poles that hold safety nets that hold up safety netting around the backstops had been stolen.

“Somebody stole from kids,” Emond said.

The aluminum poles were purchased using a grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation for $ 60,000. Emond said that he and other volunteers were going through equipment and noticed that there were not 88 eight-foot boxes of the poles, and noticed something was missing. Emond estimates that not only did the poles cost $13,000, but that the shipping was also $1,500. The lack of netting resulted in decreased safety around the fields this year as fly balls and foul balls entered areas with a high concentration of fans without being stopped by the nets.

“We’ve subsequently filed an insurance claim and found we can’t cover it with insurance. We don’t really know what we’re going to do with replacing those poles, we’re funded either by grants or the minimal amount of registration fees we charge families. We’re pretty tore up about it,” Emond said. “Baseball is intended to be the low cost recreational sport for kids.”

Emond said that the theft must have been somewhat coordinated, as the 44 boxes of poles would had to have been loaded into a pickup truck, and the lock to the connex had been broken off. F-E Contracting has agreed to donate large rocks to place at the entrance of the fields to keep vehicles from entering. Emond is uncertain if the poles were stolen at that time or during another break in.

The Smith Ball Fields were broken into during the winter. About $2,500 worth of damage was done to the snack shack and a storage shed, and $5,000 worth of field care equipment was stolen.

Emond has been a coach since 2017 and took on the role of president in the offseason, but says that other board members have told him that the crime has increased in the last two years. A theft attempt was reported during the playing season when Emond found a brand new lock bent up as someone had entered during the night and tried to pry it off. Emond has placed boxes over the locks so that they cannot be pried off.

“We’ve tried to get people to install security cameras but we don’t have the funds and don’t have anybody to donate. If we could somehow find funding to be able to get security cameras or be able to have a security service that were able to come by in the evenings, or a security system that you can put in that sounds an alarm to the police. We’re hampered,” Emond said.