Construction to begin on new little league ball field

Bill Duehren points out the location of ballfield facilties. A groundbreaking will be held on Thursday, June 3, at 8 a.m. just north of the SOAR building. photo by Jim Mitchell After several years of fund-raising and location changes, groundbreaking for the new Little League ball-field with be held at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 3, just north of the SOAR building near Sisters High School.

Originally the Sisters Little League ball field was constructed by the Kiwanis Club of Sisters on city-owned property. Subsequently the land became church property.

The current landowner, Sisters Community Church, continues to allow the use of the Little League field.

In 1999 Bill Duehren, chairman of the Kiwanis golf tournaments, became aware that the church intended to use part of that land for expansion. Duehren approached the Kiwanis membership with a project to help finance a new Little League field. The club's approval created the Million Dollar Hole-In-One Tournament, with all proceeds to be dedicated to the construction of a new ball field.

In four years Kiwanis, with contributions from Ray's Food Place, has raised about $32,000.

The proceeds from the final scheduled Hole-In-One Tournament this year will be added to that total.

Original plans called for the ball fields to be located on Sisters School District land.

Several location changes later, the ball fields are now to be located on SOAR land to the north of the new SOAR building and adjacent to the high school athletic fields.

The overall plan is for three fields -- a Little League field, a full-sized field that could be converted to Little League specifications as needed and a softball field. The outfield of the full-sized field could be set up for soccer.

With the available financing and offers of donated materials and labor, the initial emphasis is on the Little League field.

Initial construction details include surveying, grading, grass seeding, irrigation, fencing, and signing. Later consideration will be given to dugouts, scoreboard and other improvements.

Actual use for the first completed field is scheduled for next spring, enough time to allow the grass to establish a good footing before baseballs and cleats begin their wear and tear.

Matt Macauley, Event Director for SOAR, welcomes the planned Little League field. Caught grooming one of the existing fields, he said the new field would increase his capacity at tournaments from 10 to 15 teams.

He confirmed that one of the existing fields would probably disappear due to church expansion within the next few years. He added that the current fields are also used for Little League softball and for high school junior varsity softball team practice and games.

Duehren is hopeful that the exposure from Thursday's groundbreaking will spur others in the community to donate time, materials, and money to the project.

He added, "If Sisters responds like they normally do, we can get the job done."

Tax-free contributions can be made to the Sisters Kiwanis Community Service Foundation, P.O. Box 1296, Sisters, OR 97759. For further information contact Tom Coffield, SOAR Director, at 549-2091 or Bill Deuhren at 549-2012.

This year's Hole-In-One Tournament is scheduled for July 30-August 1 at Aspen Lakes Golf Course.