Apparently we are only entitled to a taste of baseball weather, before we get plunged back into the cool temperatures and gray skies.  Take heart!  The Earth keeps spinning and there is nothing as sure as the change of seasons.  How often it happens is another matter!  Lucky for us, we did not have a snow-out of try-outs like last year!

So, try-outs and drafts are over, and if you haven't already, you should be hearing from your child's coach, and starting practice this week, perhaps, if the weather is good.  Not only practice, but there's a whole mess of things starting up at the James Butts Baseball Complex:

  • Siloam Springs High School Panthers have begun their season.  We hope to have Snodgrass Field playable for them by their next home game, Friday night.  Their home opener was moved because of the giant trench across the outfield left by the gas company.  We're working on the problem with AWG, the City and the high school, and hope soon it will be as smooth as Jimmy left it last August.  
  • Commissioners, board members and coaches are doing the pre-emerge treatments of the grass on all the fields now that the temperatures are up.  It's probably not a good idea to let your kids roll around on the grass in the next few weeks.  Also, it's a good idea to prevent your little ones from digging in the dirt of the base paths, etc.  That's special dirt, and we have to keep it where it is.
  • There has been some vandalism at the ball park over the winter.  There always is.  We usually have a large plumbing bill every spring due to shenanigans with the standpipes, etc.  No standpipes were destroyed this year, but we did have a busted pipe in the men's room, and some glass was broken on the press box.  We are very fortunate to have the Siloam Springs Police Department watching out for us.  They even stopped ME one day, out behind the concession stand.  We're so lucky to have such a responsive police force.
  • Locks have been changed, so if you were entitled to a key last year and are entitled to a key this year, the ones you had may not work anymore.  See board president Matt Haught to rectify the situation.
Practices  are beginning, but be aware that there are two Work Days scheduled for getting the fields and complex ready for the season.  They are:

            Saturday, March 27, from 9-1, and
            Saturday, April 17, from 9, until we are done.

Because of these work days, there will be no practices during those times--Coaches are required to attend Work Days. Truthfully, there is nothing more galling than to take your Saturday getting the fields ready, and a team shows up to practice on the very field you are meticulously tilling and raking

More than just coaches are welcome and encouraged to attend work days.  It's a great opportunity to contribute to an organization that exists only to serve your child.  It's also a great way to teach your children to think outside themselves.  We have plenty of things that even the littlest kids can do to help, from sweeping the rocks off the concrete to picking up trash to stocking the coolers. 

Many Hands Make Light Work!

If for some reason you have NOT registered your child for baseball, it is late but NOT TOO LATE.  Stop by High-5 Sports and pick up a form, or print it off the main page of this website, and get it back to us ASAP!  You need to send in a copy of your child's birth certificate and the $65 fee doubles when you're late (JUST KIDDING!).  Send it in with your check for $65 ($90 for two or more) and your child will be assigned to the team who was next in the draft.

See you at the ball park!