At last Monday’s council meeting, nearly 50 young women from the Moorestown Youth Softball Association filed into Council Chambers to make their case for a new field. The girls and their coaches passionately explained the array of issues the association has experienced given that the town currently does not have a designated field for softball.
MYSA’s travel teams currently play at Wesley Bishop Park on fields 1 and 2. While the Moorestown Youth Baseball Association currently has 11 fields dedicated solely to baseball, MYSA has none and shares the two fields they use with flag football.
Bob Reilley, travel coordinator for MYSA, said as far back as 2014, Moorestown Township Council discussed softball’s need for a designated field, but any action on the project came to a subsequent halt. Last July, MYSA members came to council, and the project resurfaced. Reilley said they were told the township would move forward with the project, but later found out that only meant a drawing and design. Between July and February, the project saw no movement, so they returned to council in February to inquire about the project’s status.
At that time, council encouraged MYSA to work with the township’s Parks and Recreation Department and Recreation Advisory Committee to come up with a proposal. Reilley said the townhip’s engineer calculated the cost of the project for the Parks and Rec. department, and now the MYSA is asking that the costs of the field be factored into the upcoming budget. Township Manager Thomas Neff said the township’s landscape architects and engineers have estimated creating a new field at Wesley Bishop will cost around $700,000.
“We’re not really sure why we need to be here again, but we feel compelled to do so because this project, as we understand it, is still not moving forward,” Reilley said as he and his cohort of softball players gathered around the microphone on Monday night.
Reilley said in the spring of 2017, MYSA cancelled 11 games across nine nights due to field conditions. In the spring of 2018, MYSA cancelled eight games across six nights due to field conditions. He said the current fields have insufficient drainage, and, at times, they’ve had to cancel games three days after a rainstorm because the water still has not drained. He said the dugouts have no roofs, and therefore offer the girls no protection against the elements.
Softball players took turns explaining how the field conditions have affected their ability to play.
Elizabeth Bunnens said when it’s sunny and hot outside, the girls get no relief in the dugouts. She said some of the girls get headaches because there is no roofing to shield them. When it rains, the equipment they’re storing in the dugouts get soaked through.
“Our Moorestown fields are a disgrace to Moorestown,” Bunnens said.
Madison Reilley said softball has taught her confidence and how to work hard, but she doesn’t understand the discrepancy between baseball having fields and softball going without.
“My friends and I work as hard as any of the boys who play baseball; it is not fair,” Madison said.
Resident Christine Parlamis said she has a daughter in softball and a son in baseball. She said when it’s cold out, her son can take shelter in the dugout. By contrast, she and some of her fellow parents go dumpster diving for cardboard to lay down on the wet fields so players and spectators don’t have to trudge through mud to come see a game.
“It just seems such a contrast that the message we’re giving to our girls here is that you guys get the crumbs, and the boys get the cake,” Parlamis said.
Jamie Boren, president of MYSA, said they do not begrudge baseball for having 11 fields. She said that program utilizes all of those fields. She said, meanwhile, softball has been left to wait for their turn.
“It’s not fair; it is just not fair,” Boren said.
Resident Lynne Schill said part of the reason baseball has so many dedicated fields is that they put forth money toward the cost of their facilities.
While several residents inquired about potentially sharing the current fields with baseball, Reilley said the baseball program needs all of the fields it has, and he doesn’t want to steal fields they need. In addition, baseball and softball have different game parameters that don’t make the fields wholly compatible.
Resident Kate Wilson said while she feels the girls deserve the field, she also feels that Moorestown taxpayers deserve the lowest possible tax increase this year.
“If we put the money into this, what are we not going to do in other areas?” Wilson said. “I’d love to get a sense of where we see this fitting in the overall priority list.”
Councilman Brian Donnelly became openly agitated that the project has been delayed for so many years.
“I can’t believe this has been going on,” Donnelly said. “I’m furious”
Donnelly said he was tired of the excuses, and that as far as he was concerned, he was going to see to it that they find money in the upcoming budget for the project. Councilwoman Victoria Napolitano and Councilman Michael Locatell also expressed their desires to factor the field into the upcoming budget.
Deputy Mayor Nicole Gillespie said she appreciated the girls courage in speaking and agrees they deserve suitable playing facilities, but she said there are other items in the budget council has to take into consideration.
“We have an awful lot that we have got to be weighing,” Gillespie said.
Mayor Lisa Petriello said the township is committed to delivering a responsible budget.
“We don’t make decisions in a vacuum,” Petriello said. “We’re trying to get a lot of needs met in this budget.”
The next meeting of Moorestown Township Council will take place on Monday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall.
