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Article reprinted from the February 2010 Issue of the Utopia Times

Baseball Park Receives Face Lift by Dakota S. Wylie Skelton (L) and Terry Snow (R) use a rototiller on the baseball field on Feb. 18 before planting grass seed at the Utopia Park.     The Utopia Little League is working to restore the two baseball parks, beginning with the one in Utopia Park. The project has been going on for roughly two weeks and is estimated by workers to be completed by this spring.     Recently the ground has been tilled and planted; they are now preparing the seedbed for the permanent turf. Wylie Skelton, DVM, is leading the labor of the project.     "What we are trying to do here is to reclaim the field for baseball and give it the necessary amenities," Skelton said.     "The field has laid fallow for three years now, two of them being from drought." Among the renovations, including planting new grass, the organization is acquiring new score boards and new fencing, as well as finishing the dugouts.      "We are working fast and furiously to reclaim the sod and to complete the new dugouts," Skelton said.     "We have an energetic and dedicated board of directors for the Little League, great interest from Little League sponsors and anonymous donors."     They are also working beyond the fields alone. "Five of our board members recently attended umpire school in Hondo," Skelton said.     "We have also purchased liability insurance that we did not previously have, using money generated from the Haunted House last year."     The goal is to prepare the field to be ready for Junior and Senior Little League baseball divisions, as well as possibly more.     "We’d like to get this field all fixed and prettied up for the kiddos and have everyone help out to get high school back involved," said Terry Snow, Vice President of the Utopia Little League.     "We have been planting little bugs in their [students] ears to try and get it reinstated so they have something to keep going on with."     Snow believes that improving the fields will encourage future baseball coaches to stay and keep the players dedicated. Although they are not the only ones that are being counted on.     "It helps when people stop by to give a hand," Snow said.     "We want a community effort to help straighten everything out and do what needs to be done; we appreciate them helping us."     The players, he believes, can greatly benefit from the sport.     "It gives them the opportunity to be more responsible," he said. "They can carry on to maybe get scholarships that we will look into and also learn better sportsmanship for their life outside high school."     Skelton agrees with that philosophy.     "It isn’t just about learning baseball skills," Skelton said. "It will give them competence and confidence to better themselves later in life with the ‘team’ approach to baseball."     This will apply to many students, as the Little League does not only allow just boys.     "Girls softball is included and encouraged in every aspect of Little League at every level," Skelton said. "There’s nothing more exciting than a girls softball game."     In order to convince both boys and girls alike, he believes part of bringing baseball back to Utopia lies within another source than just the players themselves.     "We need to remind the parents that their encouragement of their kids to join the Little League would be greatly appreciated," he said.     As for finishing the field itself, Skelton and the rest of the Utopia Little League would also appreciate another form of assistance.     "The board directors would like to encourage parents, volunteers and also those seeking any form of community service to aid the Little League in maintaining the fields," Skelton said.     "Last year we had to go to Medina because we didn’t have enough here for a full team, but now we have enough to play here at home."