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CLINTON TOWNSHIP — America’s pastime will become more accessible next year as a new adaptive baseball field will be built at Neil Reid Park in Clinton Township.
Meant to be a larger field to accommodate older members of the Clinton Valley Little League Challenger Division, township officials and project supporters pitched the first piles of dirt at a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 29.
“It is amazing after five years of fundraising to get a field built for our senior league players,” said Marilyn Wittstock, vice president of the CVLL Challenger Division. “We are thrilled that it’s finally going to be built. We’re so proud and happy that Clinton Township has provided us this land to build a field, and our players are going to be able to play safely and have more playing time on the field.”
Wittstock worked to have a special adaptive field made for the Challenger Division geared toward children with special needs.
“Marilyn came to me about 20 years ago and said she wanted to put a special baseball field in Clinton Township,” Clinton Township Supervisor Robert Cannon said. “Our township board was thrilled. Our residents were thrilled to get that kind of a ball field.”
This original field, also at Neil Reid Park, was built to accommodate the CVLL’s Challenger Division, which allows people with special needs to play baseball with assistance as needed. Bases are connected by a rubber running-track surface and surrounded by grass.
“The games are approximately an hour long,” Wittstock said. “There are no outs. There are no strikes. They go out, they hit the ball, they learn the fundamentals of the game, but it helps with their self-esteem. They learn teamwork and they’re very happy to see their friends as well.”
But as the kids who played in the Challenger Division grew into adults, the field’s size failed to keep up. A larger field was needed, and Wittstock took on the challenge of raising the funds for this field.
More than $285,000 was raised for the field with support from the Knights of Columbus and the Clinton Township Kiwanis Club, developer Jim George, as well as other sources and fundraising events.
The new field is designed for players 16 and older. Construction will begin when the weather allows it, and the field is set to be completed when the Challenger Division Senior League begins its season in June 2024.
Challenger field is not the only project of this type being worked on in the township. Funds are being raised to build an inclusive playground in the township’s Civic Center. Clinton Township Treasurer Paul Gieleghem, an Inclusive Playground Committee member, said the project needs about $300,000 more dollars.
