CRAWFORDSVILLE

There is a profound tie between America and baseball.

Many small towns across the country feature some way for their residents to play the classic ball-and-stick game, whether that be on a full-size diamond or simply a large field; either way, America’s youth continue to be enamored by baseball.

For Crawfordsville – a quaint town roughly 28 miles south of Kalona – the tie to baseball was severed long ago when the town lost its connection to a sporting association and watched as their local diamond fell on tough times.

For 10-plus years, the town’s baseball diamond remained dormant as weeds and grass overtook the once heavily used field. During this time, not many Crawfordsville residents took pride in their ball diamond, nor did they spend much time using it.

But this spring, a multi-year project finally came to fruition, allowing not only residents, but the entire community, to finally use Crawfordsville’s once vaunted ball diamond in its restored glory.

Here’s how.

A starting point

It all began when a parent involved with a youth sporting association presented an idea to the Crawfordsville City Council to bring baseball back to the city.  The council was in favor.

“As the city, we decided that we needed to do something a little bit more for our citizens to give them a place to go and a place to play with their kids,” Crawfordsville Councilor Eric Davis said. “The city decided to go ahead and start fixing [the diamond] up.”

The idea eventually blossomed into plans to also restore the basketball court adjacent to the old diamond and add a pickleball court; both of these projects have yet to begin.

The first step towards restoring the baseball diamond came two years ago when the council restored the infield. The project continued last year when the council planted grass, giving it time to properly grow.

Following, the council applied for a Washington County Riverboat Foundation (WCRF) grant to replace the diamond’s infield and outfield lights, and to add an outfield fence.

The council was delighted to hear that they were awarded the grant from WCRF for $6,688.80, allowing them to do both projects.

They initially planned to apply for another grant from WCRF to replace their scoreboard; however, ChemGro Inc., an agricultural retail business, donated a new scoreboard to the city.  The community saved the old scoreboard, which holds nostalgia in the hearts of many, and there are plans to display it at their community center.

The community’s support and the city’s dedication laid the groundwork to restore the town’s prized baseball diamond, setting Spring 2024 as its official debut.

It takes a village

The restoration of Crawfordsville’s baseball diamond featured a wide-spread community effort.

Davis and the council stepped up to the plate, providing coordination, groundskeeping, equipment, time and money.

“[If] you’re on the council, you are kind of hands-on here. I’ve been hands-on with everything, for the most part, in terms of just trying to keep everybody on the same page and groundskeeping,” Davis said.

The community, which helped bring the original baseball diamond to life by donating the pavilion and the building which holds concessions, helped this time by replacing the seats on the bleachers and spending ample time volunteering to make sure a visit to the Crawfordsville baseball diamond is a pleasant experience for everyone.

“It makes a big difference when you can get the community’s support. Our Crawfordsville Community Club [has] done amazing things here,” Davis said, adding the community club runs the concession stand, cleans up after games, and even promotes the diamond on social media. “[Additionally], we’ve had a local person, Josh Hesseltine, who has done an amazing job of keeping things mowed up.”

But not every moment was easy, despite a steady stream of progress.

“It was kind of hard just going through the whole process of, where are we going to get the money? How are we going to do it? How do you ask for it? Do you go for a grant?” Davis said. “We didn’t get it all 100% down like we wanted, like the trenching in the ground; it’s [still] a growing process.”

Throughout it all, even in times of uncertainty, the community’s support has been felt.

“We had this [dirt] field, and when I was a kid, we played on it forever. Over time, we just let it go,” Davis said. “A lot of people from the community donated their time. We couldn’t have asked for a better turnout.”

The official return

Because of dedicated preparation, the diamond was ready to be fully used this spring and summer. This allowed Crawfordsville to round up four t-ball teams to join the Mt. Pleasant t-ball league. Their season began in the beginning of May and will finish early July.

“It’s been a really good turnout, and the field has been used a lot more than I had anticipated,” Davis said. “The school [WACO Elementary] even got to utilize it a little bit, playing kickball for their PE classes.”

“I’ve come up here to drag the field or to chalk the lines, and we’ve had potlucks or kids just playing ball. The other night, there was a couple of families from Minnesota and Wisconsin utilizing the field too. That stuff I just didn’t expect, and it was nice to see,” Davis added.

In addition to the t-ball teams, the city is filling softball and baseball rosters for kids in sixth grade and below. Needless to say, the work to restore Crawfordsville’s baseball diamond will not go to waste.

The baseball diamond’s return means a lot to someone like Davis, who has lived in the community his whole life, played on the diamond as a kid, and now has a family of his own.

“I’ve got three kids, and seeing them being able to play here on the field that I played on is amazing,” Davis said; his sentiment is likely shared by many other people within the community.

Davis hopes the city can continue to make steady progress at the park.

“Hopefully next year, it’ll be 100% cleaned up and done and will look a little bit better. It’s kind of difficult to keep all the moving parts in line, but we’re to the point now where we’re just enjoying it,” Davis said. “We’re trying to make it fit for the community to come up and use all year round.”

One thing rings true: the Crawfordsville community has pledged their support to this restoration project, and likely will continue to help by showing support in the years that follow.