Homeruns come home: Young athletes return to Crestline Little League Complex
CRESTLINE — Little League baseball retuned to the diamonds in Crestline on Monday evening for the first time in almost five years.
At the opening night ceremony, Crestline Youth Sports (CYS) welcomed back Carl Carroll and Greg Pfleiderer, who were responsible for the original construction of the Crestline Little League Complex in 2004.
Since the formation of Crestline Youth Sports, one of the major goals was to bring home baseball games back to Crestline. Youth softball had home games last year, but all the baseball games were played in Galion. Crestline is part of the Galion Little League District.
Crestline Youth Sports has been able to raise a significant amount of capital in order to have games back in Crestline. Over the past two years, the organization has put in more than $10,000 worth of work and materials to make all three ball diamonds game ready. It spent around $3,000 to update the bathrooms and concession stand, and has purchased various pieces of equipment such as a portable mound, pitching
machine and helmets. The organization uses Project Inc., a subsidiary of the Community Foundation for Crawford County, as its fiscal agent.
Organizations like the United Way of North Central Ohio purchased a new backstop for the Little League Complex, and Carroll’s Truck Parts purchased a new net to protect the Crestline Municipal Swimming Pool from homeruns. Many other individuals and organizations have donated time, money, and labor.
Along with Carroll and Pfleiderer, Crestline Mayor Linda Horning-Pitt and Crestline Exempted School District Superintendent Matthew Henderson threw out first pitches.
Desi Hunt, a 2019 Crestline High School graduate and Miss Mohican Valley 2022, sang the National Anthem as Crestline VFW Post 2920 raised the American flag. Pastor Justin Lawhorn from Crestline New Vision Church of God of Prophecy provided the invocation.
The opening night was the culmination of two years of hard work by the organization's board of directors, Crestline Youth Sports President Clayton Herold said,
"We are grateful to those businesses, organizations and individuals who believe in our mission and support us," he said. "Our organization is very fortunate to have a great working relationship with Galion Youth Baseball, the Village of Crestline and the Crestline Exempted Village School District. None of this is possible without the parents and the kids who participate in our program. This year our program has more kids playing baseball and softball than last season, which is what we want.
"We are not done yet; tonight, we woke a sleeping giant (the Little League Complex), and we have more work to do.”
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Opening night celebrated at Crestline Little League Complex
