Softball Players Urge for More Boosters Funding

Since the Campolindo boosters raise money for sports teams, they have to make tough decisions when deciding how to distribute the funds. Some sports may need more funding than others because it can be more difficult to keep their facilities and gear up to standard so that it doesn’t affect their play.

One of these teams that are pushing for more funding is the Campolindo Girls Softball team. Their fields need to be kept to a higher standard in order for the team to play without an added risk of injury. Pitcher senior Ashlyn Chin said, “I think a lot of girls are scared to slide on the dirt, just because it is really rough. It also gets muddy really easily.”

The players have been trying to improve the field conditions themselves but “there’s not much we can do to improve the actual field condition… we do drag the field but it is just like basic maintenance stuff,” Chin explained.

With some sports like football getting more funding than others, it makes it a lot harder for other sports to keep in top shape for their seasons. Second Baseman sophomore Maya Hammerman believes that the boosters “shouldn’t be putting all of their money towards basketball and baseball, [and that] it should be even… the sports that bring in more money shouldn’t automatically get more funding.”

With the unkept field, it can make playing a lot harder for the players. The ball may take bad hops and players are more likely to twist their ankles in the outfield.

Pitcher sophomore Clara Hwang said, “The field is a little rough, there are a lot of holes in the outfield… the infield is a little bumpy and there’s lots of weeds in it.”

To improve these conditions, Hwang explained that they “drag the field after every practice” in order to smooth out the dirt, and that they “had a field cleanup last year where we painted all the walls, the bleachers and the backstop.”

The team is hoping to get more funding from the boosters in order to improve the field and keep it fit for playing. Chin further explained that the boosters “should put more money towards the softball team, but I think they need to ask the players what we want to improve first,” in order to help effectively.

Hwang agreed with this and said that the softball team would “really appreciate it. It would make playing so much easier… I think hiring some people to take care of the fields would be nice and we would be able to pay for more coaches.”

With the new softball season just beginning to ramp up, the players are hoping that they will be able to continue getting more funding. This way the only thing they have to worry about is the game and not the poor conditions.