TEXARKANA - Both Texarkanas' parks and recreation departments are busy preparing city baseball and softball diamonds for a full schedule of practice, league play and tournaments that begins this weekend and will last into the fall.
A Fastpitch America Softball Association tournament to be held locally this weekend marks the beginning of the season for one of Texarkana's most popular youth activities, and city crews are making sure teams will have safe, high-quality fields to play on. The boost that youth tournaments bring to the local economy makes their work all the more important.
Despite delays because of the recent winter storms and rain, Texas-side crews will have diamonds at William Karrh Memorial Park and other parks in top shape for the tournament - and the season to follow - said Ross Cowling, the city's sports league director.
Tasks include cutting grass lines, grading infields, securing bases and chalking foul lines. The backstop fencing at all 16 diamonds the Texas side maintains is new, and other fencing has been repaired or replaced as needed, Cowling said.
"I'm really proud of the guys. We're trying to stay ahead of this weather and all the craziness that we've dealt with this year. They're on top of everything, and the parks are looking good," he said.
On the Arkansas side, a new piece of state-of-the-art equipment is saving work time and helping to prevent rain outs at the city's eight diamonds, city Sports Manager Adam Dalby said.
An infield grooming machine the city recently purchased uses lasers to make precise grading automatic. One worker using the machine takes the place of four using traditional equipment, and it improves field drainage to the extent that afternoon play is possible after morning rain.
New seating and shade structures, new concession facilities including air-conditioned restrooms, and video scoreboards donated by Youth Scoreboards of Arkansas are all ready at the Arkansas side's Ermer Dansby Pondexter Sports Complex, as well.
Continual maintenance of the city's fields means only some fine-tuning is needed in the spring, Dalby said.
"As far as field work goes, everything was already in pretty good shape, so we're not having to do a whole lot," he said.
Staging youth sports tournaments has become big business, and both Texarkanas are eager to take advantage of the opportunity, often in partnership with each other, providing places to play for hundreds of student athletes at a time.
Each Texarkana will host 16 various baseball and softball tournaments this year, not including the Dixie League World Series to be held on the Arkansas side. A few of those tournaments will take place in both cities at once.
"We want to capitalize on bringing people to Texarkana. It's something we don't want to miss out on. We have some of the best fields in the Northeast Texas area," Cowling said.
The economic effects of thousands of players, their coaches and their families visiting Texarkana each year are significant, said Mike Malone, president of the Texarkana USA Chamber of Commerce.
"The impact is very large," he said. "It's actually a major industry to the town because of the hotels, gas stations and restaurants that all these kids and adults use. That is hundreds of thousands of dollars, I'm sure, of income."