THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411160128
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 27 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA HUANG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
About 500 Chesapeake baseball fans turned out Saturday to tour the Great Bridge Baseball Association's long-awaited Charlton-Mott Youth Complex in Hickory.
Association members held an open house to attract members and show off their progress in developing the 12-diamond Pony baseball complex on a 90-acre site.
``The biggest thing was to get people down there and see what we've done and show them it's not something we're dreaming about - it's reality,'' said Ron Rigby, a member of the committee responsible for developing the complex.
So far, the basic groundwork and drainage for the complex have been completed. The next step will include adding the fencing, lighting, bleachers and concession stands. The association plans to open the facility April 15 with five completed fields. Another seven fields will be completed within the next four years.
On Saturday, association members played baseball games on two of the incomplete fields, using makeshift backstops behind home plate.
Another $3,500 toward the $1.4 million cost of the project was raised at Saturday's event, but Rigby said the fund-raising effort isn't going as well as hoped. He estimated that the first five fields will cost $950,000, of which $650,000 had already been spent.
The association, the 11th largest youth baseball league in the nation, plans to hold a fund-raising event with the business community in January. They also hope that building supply stores such as Lowe's and HQ will donate some materials.
Rigby said the fund drive has been slower than expected because many people have made previous commitments to other causes in the community.
``It's a crunch time now,'' he said. ``We have to make things happen. April is just a stone's throw away. We have to have things coming in - whether it's money or materials or both.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Manager John Kubichan talks to the Mustang Mets before an exhibition
game at Great Bridge Baseball's youth complex.
by CNB