West Je Baseball raising money for fields behind Wilmot Elementary

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

In the foothills, there are too many sports teams and not enough eld space.

West Je Baseball is trying to level the playing eld, so to speak, and it is asking the community for help. It wants to raise $3 million to create a eld complex behind Wilmot Elementary School, hoping it will connect via trails to the elds at Evergreen High School.

e area would have enough space for two youth ball elds, or it could be converted into a eld for soccer, lacrosse or football. e organization hopes to raise the money by next spring, so the elds can be constructed in the summer of 2024.

“We talk about this project in terms of baseball,” said Bill Jaeger, president of West Je Baseball, at a May 4 meeting to unveil the project, “but it’s an entry point to the intent of the project. If the space can be reimagined and revitalized, we hope it will be used by Wilmot and the community. Multiple user groups could use this.”

West Je Baseball envisions parking, stadium seating, batting cages, a concession stand and storage, a picnic shelter, restrooms, and sloped lawn seating. e organization is looking into whether it will be a grass or arti cial turf eld.

West Je Baseball is working with the Army Corps of Engineers because the land is in the ood plain.

Je co Public Schools, which owns the property is on board with the project, and Stephany Fritz, Wilmot’s principal, is excited by the prospect of having a grass eld behind the school that students could play on. Now, students play on dirt, gravel or asphalt.

Jaeger said West Je Baseball continues to try to make the foothills more child and family focused, and adding elds will begin to alleviate the gridlock when it comes to get high school, middle school and sports organizations’ practices and games. e organization believes that Wilmot Elementary is a prime location for more ball elds because it’s easily accessible from both Ever- green and Conifer, and with Wilmot’s playground nearby, families will have something to do during practices.

West Je Baseball, for example, has 350 players on 29 recreational and competitive teams. It wants more elds because they are concerned the lack of practice space and the less-than-ideal elds are sending families down the hill to give their children better experiences.

“Now is the time to better our community, and we are happy to lead the charge,” said Chris Lewis, a West Je Baseball board member.

West Je Baseball is accepting donations for its eld complex behind Wilmot Elementary School at www. westje baseball.org/donations.

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Tonight on…

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Sheri ’s Calls is intended as a humorous take on some of the incident call records of the Je erson County Sheri ’s O ce for the mountain communities. Names and identifying details have been changed. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty.