A Contra Costa County youth baseball league is facing a major setback with thieves stealing more than $15,000 worth of equipment from its facility that’s used to maintain the baseball fields.
And it comes as the league tries to make a comeback with this year being its first official season in more than four years due to the pandemic.
The weekend robbery left Concord’s Junior Optimist Baseball League parents both frustrated and concerned for their safety.
“How can people just come into the complex when we're not here?" said Joanne Davi. "I’m a little bit scared about it."
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She is both a parent and coach for the league and said she’s a bit shook up by an incident at the complex on Saturday.
The stolen items included an ATV that’s used to maintain multiple baseball fields for games, as well as a utility trailer, water pumps, and a generator.
Davi pointed out the league is run by parents who volunteer their free time for the kids. So without this equipment, it could take longer to prepare for games, and potentially impact the season.
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“We prep the fields, we maintain the complex, we take out the trash, we do everything here so the kids can just come and platy. Now we have to obviously get here a lot earlier because we don’t have the equipment,” said Davi.
The league has set up a GoFundMe to help with the costs of replacing the much needed equipment.
Steve Fisher is the vice president of the league and is devastated by the incident. He said it comes as the league tries to increase player participation, which hasn’t been the same since the pandemic.
“It’s very disappointing because you're stealing from little kids, you're stealing from a league that’s helping the community, that's been here for 50 years,” he said.
Fisher added they’ve filed a police report with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office.
NBC Bay Area reached out for comment on the investigation, but have yet to hear back.
In the meantime, the games will go on with parents like Davi making sure the kids can focus on the game as the league pushes through yet another setback.
“They took a really hard hit with COVID ... tried to come back last year and crazy weather flooded the fields, and three games in we lost our equipment,” she said.
