Softball Group Plans To Add 5 Diamonds To Field Lineup

Sports fans living on the North Side won’t have to search long to find a softball diamond come June 1996.

The Spokane Metropolitan Softball Association plans to develop a large $1 million complex near the North Division Y featuring five fully lighted diamonds and a restaurant.

Sandi Miller, an SMSA spokeswoman, says construction and site development is expected to begin this summer.

Russell Sharp, the SMSA’s director, says the 29-acre site is bordered by Holland Avenue to the north and Colton Street to the west. The land is owned by the city of Spokane, which has agreed to lease it to the SMSA.

Sharp says the group has designed the project with the help of the city Parks Department.

The five diamonds will form a clover-leaf-shaped perimeter around the restaurant and main restroom facilities. The SMSA currently plans to run and operate the restaurant.

In addition, Miller says plans include new SMSA administrative offices, which now are located at E1727 Francis. The complex also will include additional public restrooms, a playground and locker rooms for umpires. Batting cages also may be constructed.

Sharp says the 50 teams and 4,000 adult players who belong to his group have primarily used city diamonds, which aren’t always maintained.

“We need more fields and better fields,” he says.

Sharp says the facility will get lots of use from the opening of softball season in mid-April until its end in late October.

“We’ll be playing games and tourneys every weekend,” Sharp says.

To pay for the project, the SMSA had to boost membership fees and will solicit for private donations as well. But, Miller says, the expense will be worth it.

Without the complex, many teams couldn’t play at all.

“There are more and more people playing softball every year,” she says. “We even had to turn teams back. Now we’ll be able to have more teams and 10 more games per night.”