The softball field on the Polytechnic campus may not look completely groomed, but some members of the Softball Club at ASU Polytechnic consider it home.
Club president Aaron Gould, a graphics information technology senior, said some of the problems with the team’s field include lighting, uneven ground and a lack of sturdy fencing. But he isn’t complaining.
“We’re lucky to have a field at all,” he said, adding that the team members help to maintain it themselves.
Gould, who is also captain of the men’s softball team, said the club is responsible for a lot of the maintenance, like raking the sand, leveling the ground and chalking the field.
Justice studies junior Crystal Roe, a member of the co-ed team, said some of the field repairs the club has made have been difficult.
“We had to re-level the whole field,” she said. “At one point my dad came out to help and was standing knee-deep in a hole in the outfield.”
The field is improving slowly, she said, with greener grass and some new fencing, but the club has run into another problem: funding.
Physical education freshman and club vice president David LaCilento said the club received $750 from the student fee allocation annual budget from Associated Students of ASU Polytechnic, which covered some costs.
The money funded the team’s registration and fee to play at Big League Dreams sport parks in Gilbert, where the club has always competed, he said.
In 2009, the club’s first year, the men’s team won the Big League Dreams championship.
“Each club member is paying for a lot of stuff out of pocket,” LaCilento said.
The park also charges a $25 member fee per player, as well as a $3 entry fee when they go to the park, he said, so club members are paying out of pocket.
Roe added that the team paid for its own shirts and most of the equipment it uses.
“We tried to get sponsorships and stuff but times are hard and most businesses can’t afford it,” she said. “We’re in desperate need of new bats and some new balls.”
In order to get more funding, the club is planning a softball tournament from Feb. 11 to 13. It is charging $10 a person with the minimum of 10 players on each team and hopes to attract six teams.
Half of the proceeds will be donated to Relay for Life.
The club plans to run as a team at the Relay for Life event, an event that benefits cancer research, on the Polytechnic campus later this semester.
“It’s a really good cause and a way to make our club not strictly about softball,” she said.
Gould said one of the club’s goals this year was to change its direction and become more social.
“The Polytechnic campus is not a typical campus since it used to be an Air Force base,” he said. “Sometimes it’s cool, but there’s not a lot going on out here. We’re trying to build a community.”
Reach the reporter at sheydt@asu.edu
