WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Little league baseball and softball will soon return to Brandon Park in Williamsport. Recently, the City of Williamsport agreed to lease the old ball fields in the city park to the Williamsport Area Little League.
"We would like to be utilizing these fields here in the heart of our city. We are Williamsport Area Little League," said Williamsport Area Little League president Ron Diemer.
"You know it is one of our main parks in the city, Brandon Park, and those fields should be used, and I am looking forward to hearing the bats cracking a Brandon Park again," said Derek Slaughter, the mayor of Williamsport.
It has been over three years since baseball or softball was played at Brandon Park. Right now, the fields are in no condition to play on. The goal of the city and the Williamsport Area Little League is to revamp the entire complex and have it ready to go within the next two years.
"The whole complex itself has gone downhill, and our hope is to rebuild this, to revitalize these fields here at Brandon Park so we could get baseball and the sounds of bats and the sounds of kids yelling and cheering," said Diemer.
"We are exploring options, the administration and city council, to see if we have some funds that might be available to assist since at the end of the day, it is a city asset, and all of the burden should not be placed on W.A.L.L.," said Slaughter.
As of now, the Williamsport Area Little League plays all its games out of city limits at the Old Lycoming Township baseball fields. Officials with the league believe that playing games out of the city is causing fewer kids to sign up and play because of the distance.
"Here in the heart of the city in Brandon Park, these kids could just like what we did when we were kids. We could walk to the fields, we could ride our bikes to the fields, we could make our practices and make our games," said Diemer.
Officials with the Williamsport Area Little League are accepting monetary donations for the project, but they are in desperate need of volunteers to help work on the fields. If interested, you can contact the Williamsport Little League directly.