With a great group of players and a first-time opportunity to guide them, Colt Sedbrook has been waiting for the start of the Boulder High baseball season since he was hired in the fall of 2013.
And, like most coaches who can expect some hiccups in their first year, Sedbrook has a doozy on his hands. It has everything to do with the forces of nature, too.
Recent windstorms have taken their toll on Suitts Field at Scott Carpenter Park, the place the Panthers call home. Unfortunately, because one of the poles that supported the backstop was completely busted a few weeks ago, the field is not usable.
“The big windstorm that happened just before our season started on (March 3), those winds literally broke a pole about three feet off the ground,” Boulder athletic director Melissa Warfield said on Monday. “There was another storm just after the flood that damaged it a little at the time, but nothing to the magnitude of what happened this most recent one.”
The field is part of the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation system, and they do not have the funds to fix the estimated repairs, which Warfield said ranged from $35,000 up to $55,000. In the wake of the September floods, the Boulder Valley School District also lacks the funds to help repair the backstop.
It will likely come down to team-organized and other private fundraisers to gather enough money to approach the city, who then can contract the work out.
“We’ve had to meet and discuss and make plans to beef up what’s there, to make it appropriate to withstand those sustained winds we see here in Boulder,” said Warfield. “It is a collaboration between the city, Diamond Baseball and the school district. Fundraising, at least from the school district side, hasn’t been a primary concern. That’s been getting a bid, getting an engineer to make sure it’s good, getting permits, that kind of stuff. Ultimately, it is the city’s field.”
Diamond Baseball of Boulder has already organized a way to donate online through their website (diamondbaseball.org). According to the site, $3,000 has been raised with the goal of $40,000.
Sedbrook said other fundraising ideas have been discussed, in hopes that the repairs can be made in time for the end of the spring season. Until then, BHS will have to use other area fields, likely those at Fairview and Broomfield, for the duration of the spring.
“If we get some ideas out, we’ll get them reviewed and we’ll try and put as much man-hours and woman-hours into it as we possibly can to benefit the kids,” Sedbrook said. “It’s about getting them the opportunity to play on their home field.”
Sedbrook, a Broomfield graduate who went on play at the University of Arizona as well as at the minor league level, said his main goal as the coach remains keeping players in tune with the season and improving, no matter where they have to play.
“I wouldn’t say it’s affecting the kids as far as the growth of baseball, but I think they do want a home game,” he said. “If it continued through to the end of the season, it might be a different thing. Right now, they’re focused on getting better and getting ready to play this Wednesday.
“If I focused all my attention on the backstop, I don’t know that we’d get any better as a program.”
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