A vehicle drove onto grass and damaged a section of the Auburn Suburban Baseball and Softball Complex in Auburn. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
AUBURN — The Auburn Suburban Baseball and Softball organization is looking for help finding the person who drove a vehicle that damaged a large area at the sporting complex.
Travis Bashaw, president of the Auburn Suburban organization, said that he received an email from a community member Thursday morning that said someone had driven on a section of grass adjacent to one of the organization’s fields and caused damage to it.
The Auburn Suburban Baseball and Softball complex on Garfield Park Road consists of five fields that are used for youth baseball and softball games, according to Bashaw.
“None of the (playing) fields were damaged,” Bashaw said. “It was the property next to Austin Field, property that Auburn Suburban uses, that was damaged.”
Bashaw said that there is no permanent gate keeping traffic out “since we’ don’t own the land,” and there are “no surveillance cameras” at the complex.
While the financial toll of the vandalism has yet to be determined, Bashaw said that “it’s not so much the financial damage but more about the labor required to fix the property.”
“We’re a 100% volunteer-run organization, so any of the work to fix this will need to be done by volunteers,” Bashaw said. “We had just put in about 25 or 30 hours of work getting the fields ready for the start of next season.”
Bashaw said that Thursday’s act of vandalism was the second time recently that the complex had been hit.
“About a month ago, we were tagged with Black Lives Matter and other graffiti on the side of the snack shack,” Bashaw said. “We’ve since painted over it.”
While Bashaw said that he and other volunteers may “pitchfork the tire tracks and try to level the ground,” he added that “we may also wait until spring, when the conditions are softer, to level it out.”
“As a board member and a parent, it’s just frustrating,” Bashaw said. “You try and do a nice service for the community, and sometimes, it’s not always respected.”
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