Carson City Little League hopes to have a much needed facility in the future that will give all youth baseball and softball players a year-round advantage. Or at least to help them keep up with everybody else.
With indoor facilities propping up all over the place, Carson Little League is spearheading the effort to develop a 6,000-square foot indoor facility at the northeast corner of Governor's Field.
The facility will have two floors with the top floor to be used for office space. The bottom floor will have four cages with lanes for hitting and pitching.
"It's designed to be functional," said Tim Terry, who has been active in Carson Little League for a long time and is now the league's assistant commissioner. Terry said the facility will not be the "Taj Mahal."
The cost for the entire project will be about $245,000. Carson Little League is funding $35,000 toward the project that it has received from the Erma Rosa estate.
So roughly another $200,000 needs to be raised for the project. The facility will be a steel building which will be transported onto Governor's Field in stages over a few days. Combined cost for the building alone and putting it up will likely be more than $100,000.
"We've got plenty of ideas on how to do it," said Birk Jones of Carson City's Peak Consulting Engineers, who is in charge of the design of the facility. Peak Consulting Engineers is donating Jones' time, which has provided an "enormous" savings, Terry said.
"We're interested in talking with anyone interested in helping out with the project," Terry also said. "Carson City is a generous town when it comes to youth activities.
"We need space. There's a shortage of areas and facilities wehre kids can go to. There's a lot of people excited about getting something like this going."
If anyone knows the difficulty of finding indoor space, it's Terry. For the past several years, Terry has operated the Ray Austin Memorial Baseball Academy out of several facilities.
Terry envisions Carson Little League will take over the kind of instruction the academy has been providing once the Governor's Field facility is a reality.
"We're just here for the kids to give theme some advantages and training," Terry said. "You have to have an indoor facility."
Terry said the facility should be used ball all the players who participate in Little League, Babe Ruth and youth softball in the community. He also said the facility should stay busy year-round. "I think it will be used every night of the week," he said.
The second floor will be used for Little League board meetings and Terry said any youth organization should be welcome to use the facility for its board meetings.
With year-round training the way it is, Terry said an indoor facility is necessary "these days just to keep up."
Anyone interested in helping out with the project can call Terry, 291-9070. All donations are tax deductible.