INGRAM, Texas – The Ingram Little League Park is back!
It’s a large feat after last summer’s Hill Country floods, thanks in no small part to the Kerr County community as well as Minor and Major League Baseball.
“After July 4, we needed small wins,” said Tate DeMasco, athletic director at Ingram High School.
DeMasco said that throughout the course of the year, there have been several small wins. But the return of Ingram Little League symbolizes the big wins coming to Kerr County.
“Everybody in our community is starting to see the big wins,” DeMasco said. “Houses are starting to be finished, people are starting to move back in and they’re getting back to a sense of normalcy.”
Young baseball and softball players in the community now have a brand-new facility to call home, after a rebuild led by the Houston Astros’ nonprofit arm.
“We weren’t sure what the community might need,” said Emelda Douglas, executive director of the Astros Foundation, “so the first visit here was to talk and listen to figure out where we might play a role.”
The floods in Kerr County sent shock waves across the state, including Astros owner Jim Crane.
“We felt a very strong tie to it,” Crane said. “In fact, a little girl in my son’s school class passed away, so we wanted to pitch in and do something significant to show our support for the community and help them rebuild.”
The Astros Foundation contributed about $2 million toward the facility. Crane said the park needed top-quality resources.
“We have a kid make the big leagues from one of these programs just like this — that’s the dream,” Crane said. “You can’t do it without nice facilities.”
Bob Cohen of the San Antonio Missions said it was an easy decision to be part of the effort.
“The thing about baseball, particularly minor league baseball, is it builds memories for families and friends, and that’s what it’s all about,” Cohen said. “It’s the same in Little League Baseball.”
“To see all these smiling faces, knowing that less than a year ago they didn’t have a place to play, and to see what it looks like today just warms your heart,” Cohen said.
With the addition of playable fields, the park can now host teams from across the state. Organizers said that registration increased by 85% from last year to this year.
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