by Niki Cunningham
Sports Editor
Lassen Youth Fastpitch Softball held their opening day on Saturday April 4, 2015. Along with introducing all of the participants, The Lassen Fastpitch board Honored Susanville Rotarian Ron Jarrell for the 5 years of work that he and the Rotary Club of Susanville put in to bring the Susanville Ranch Park Fields a reality.
There were about 1100 acres donated to the county by the power company a number of years ago. There was an area set aside for playing fields. The county established the Susanville Sports Council to oversee the fields and to generate some interest in developing the fields. The Susanville Rotary Club took the snack bar/restroom building on as a project.The Building was built by Rotarians with donations from businesses in the community and money raised by The Rotary Club. i.e. radio auction etc.When the building was nearly complete, there was not much happening on the fields so The Susanville Rotary Club decided to help with that project. After the fields were terraced, The Susanville Rotary Club raised the money for and installed the sprinkler system, and hydro seeded the fields. The City Of Susanville donated the water and the grass was established.The Susanville Rotary Club then purchased the fencing and materials for the backstops and dugouts. These were installed with the help of County Jail inmate crews and members of the community.The County paved the parking lot and Rotary has added some sidewalks and fencing since that time.The project covered approximately five years. There have been a large number of businesses in the community who have donated materials, performed work with equipment for just the cost of fuel, provided materials at cost, and donated other design services.
A lot of Rotarians have worked on the project over the years and The Susanville Rotary Club raised and spent in excess of $160,000 to complete the project.
The softball, little league, and soccer organizations in Susanville have continued to contribute to keep the fields going since they were built.
As the project director for Rotary Club, Ron can speak for all Rotarians that it warms our hearts to see so many of our youth taking advantage of the fields to play baseball, softball, and soccer each year.
