Play ball: Waynesville little league field opens up over a year after Helene
Action has finally returned to the diamond at the little league field behind the Waynesville Elks Lodge.
Kyle Perrotti photo
Last September, when Hurricane Helene brought flooding to much of the region, the little league baseball field behind the Waynesville Elks Club was swamped by several inches of water, dugouts were destroyed and lights were carried downstream along with tons of other debris. But now, hundreds of thousands of dollars and hundreds of person-hours later, action has returned to that hallowed diamond.
After the storm hit, Mountaineer Little League President Richie Cunningham knew the considerable damage inflicted on the field would necessitate a full rebuild of the field.
“I hated to see it,” Cunningham said in a July Smoky Mountain News story. “I had seen pictures and how high the water level was. It washed the dugout completely away, and a set of bleachers were pushed over right into the middle of the field. It was pretty much wiped out. The storage shed was destroyed, which meant our equipment was destroyed. The light poles in the outfield, those were totally gone.”
Cunningham set to work, enlisting the help of a community, including the Elks Lodge, which owns the property where the field has been for over 50 years. His right-hand man throughout the effort was Waynesville Elks Lodge head trustee Brent Yarski, who led fundraising efforts on that end.
Yarksi and Cunningham both grew up playing baseball on that field. Last season, there were about 350 kids enrolled in the Mountaineer Little League program between baseball, softball and tee ball. While a lot of kids now play on travel teams, which require a good deal of time and money, the Mountaineer Little League is for anyone at any skill level. It’s all about the players; that’s why Cunningham and others put so much of their own time into making sure there’s a place for everyone to play.
A brief ceremony was held last week to celebrate the reopening of the field for games. The event was emceed by John Roten, a popular radio personality on 99.9 Kiss Country, who sported a black cowboy hat, black blazer and dark sunglasses. As Roten introduced each speaker, he thanked the volunteers and donors for all they’d done to bring the field back to life better than ever.
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Following an invocation by Pastor Chris Westmorland of Long’s Chapel in Clyde, first up to speak was Danielle Bedasse, the vice president of community affairs for the Atlanta Braves Foundation. The Braves Foundation had provided support for the project, including construction of the outfield fence. She explained that the Braves Foundation has been helping out with similar projects all over the region in the wake of the storm as part of its “Parks Projects Initiative,” something she considers to be a privilege.
“It’s where families and communities come together to ride the waves of joy and sometimes heartbreak,” Bedasse said. “It’s where dreams are cultivated, character is built and friendships are formed forever.”
Next up was Aaron Slate with Truist, a corporate partner of the Atlanta Braves. He noted that the projects in the wake of Helene have marked the first occasions of the Parks Project Initiative supporting facilities in the state of North Carolina. He also spoke about the Truist Cares for Western NC initiative, which includes $25 million in philanthropic grants for local nonprofits on the ground in the region.
“Projects like this make such a huge difference for our youth and our kids, to be able to experience and play in a new park like this and the community being able to watch here,” he said.
Next, Roten introduced Yarski, who named a whole host of local companies that pitched in with materials, labor or finances to rebuild the field, including Mountain Credit Union and Champion Credit Union, both of which sponsored one of the dugouts.
Last was Cunningham.
“What a difference a year can make,” Cunningham mused, noting that the league operates five fields in the county, and three were damaged, including a softball field at Dutch Fisher Park that is still awaiting necessary repairs.
Cunningham said that while there wasn’t a regular fall season, there will be a spring season at the Elks Lodge field. Like Yarski, Cunningham wanted to offer some praise for a few individuals and organizations, including Transylvania County Little League, which he said gave the Mountaineer Little League “a lot of equipment.”
Finally, Cunningham thanked the players. Without them, of course, there would be no reason to build the field, which as evidenced by the large crowd that stretched up and down the baselines serves as a place of community, where generations of Haywood County youth have competed and grown and played.
“There’s a lot of dudes here tonight that can say, ‘Hey, we played on that field. That was our field,’” Cunningham said. “Now for the kids that’s going to come up playing on it, it’s your turn. It’s your turn to make memories, and we hope this field will help you do that.”
Within 15 minutes, the teams, one in orange one and one in blue, began warming up, and smiles, laughter and the distinctive clink of metal bats were enjoyed once again.
