Rogers baseball field vandalized

Vandals tore up the baseball field at Rogers High School overnight last Thursday.

They used shovels to dig divots in the infield and dug a smiley face into the pitcher’s mound.

Vandals also pulled out the pitching rubber from the mound, smashed up home plate and tore up a tarp used to cover home plate.

Jim Wasem said the tarp was worth about $450. Jason Conley, Spokane Public Schools director of safety, security and transportation, estimated total damage between $1,500 and $2,000.

The coach was angry about the damage, saying that the team tries to spend its fundraising earnings on equipment such as bats, gloves and cleats. But now the team will have to spend money on a new tarp.

“It kind of hurts,” said junior Rodney McDonald. “It’s our life out here.”

“It kind of makes us lose focus,” said Chad Como, a teammate who also is a junior.

Rogers lost to Central Valley High School at home the evening before the vandalism, and the junior varsity played on the field the next day.

Grounds foreman Phil Lindstrom said he received a phone call early Friday morning about the field and had to drop what he had planned for the day to clean up the damage.

“We try to make it better than it was before,” Lindstrom said. “We sure don’t want anybody to miss a game.”