Trucker baseball field swamped

CLINTONVILLE – When a downpouring of rain arrived in Clintonville the evening of April 13, Clintonville High School Baseball coach Ben Smejkal said he never expected that it would result in the ball field at Don Jirschele Stadium in W.A. Olen Park being more than three feet under water.
“It was a total and utter surprise to see that water come in that fast and that quick and have that much current,” Smejkal said.
Not only did the ball field flood, but the concession stand building and the lower level of the press box also flooded. Unfortunately, a lot of items used by the high school baseball team, the Legion and Babe Ruth baseball teams, and the Clintonville A’s team were stored in the storage area of the concession stand building and were damaged by the flood water.
Smejkal said some of the items that were stored in the concession stand building would have normally been stored on the second or third level of the press box building, but the city of Clintonville condemned that building and planned to tear it down this spring. So, in the meantime, all those items were moved to the storage area of the concession stand building.
Items stored in the building included the banners for the outfield fences, the speaker system for the stadium, uniforms for the Legion, Babe Ruth, and Clintonville A’s teams, items for the high school baseball team, and baseballs for the spring and summer baseball programs, Smejkal said. In addition, the concession stand housed three refrigerators, beer coolers, an ice machine, a hot water heater, a chest freezer, and popcorn machines.

Smejkal said the city of Clintonville owns the building, but the Clintonville Athletic Club (CAC), which includes the baseball groups that use the stadium, oversees the baseball use of the stadium. He added that the CAC does most of the maintenance of the field, including mowing the grass.
“That’s another thing, our mowers and our golf cart were completely submerged,” Smejkal said.
While the extent of the damage to the above items is still being assessed, Smejkal said that all the working components of the electronic equipment in the concessions stand are covered with slime and sediment. The outfield of the ballfield, as well as the roadway and sidewalk outside the stadium are also covered with slime and sediment.

Practices and games
As of Sunday, April 19, Smejkal said the high school baseball team is unable to play games at the stadium and its season schedule is “a day-by-day” decision.

“For the most part, we are pretty much going to play away games until we can get back on the field,” he said, adding, “I have to text my kids every morning and say ‘Here’s today’s plan.’”
For practices, Smejkal said the team is using a few indoor baseballs that were not damaged in the flood because all the practice baseballs the team had were damaged in the flood.
“For the most part we’ve been practicing indoors,” Smejkal said. “We have indoor batting cages up at the high school. We might go outside behind the high schools. We’ve actually been on the football field playing, trying to do an infield and trying to do outfield stuff on the football field. It’s not the same as our own field or a baseball field, but at least we’re outside and we can see a ball in the sky and throw it the proper distances. But most of the hitting has been indoors for the last two weeks. We try to get to games a little earlier now so we can actually spend a little more time on the away fields to get a little more experience.”

Fundraising
Prior to the flood, Smejkal said the high school baseball team was already conducting a fundraiser because he knew the CAC was going to be spending money to construct a new press box at the stadium.

“If I need something at the high school (for baseball), the CAC has always provided it,” Smejkal said. “So, knowing that they were planning to build this new facility we did a fundraiser this year, the Snap! Raise program, which was basically asking for donations for just the high school program. That way I didn’t need to go bother or ask the CAC for money in the next year or two because I knew we want them to help support and build the new facility downtown which benefits us, which we use. We had started the fundraiser before the season. We were hoping maybe we’d get $2,000 or $3,000 out of it just to be able to pay for things like baseballs, a new bat, or things like that.”
Smejkal said the original goal for the fundraiser was $5,000, but since the flood, the total has surpassed that.
“Now with everything destroyed down there, it looks like the CAC may be coming to the high school to help replace some of the stuff that we use and benefit from,” he said. “We scratch each other’s backs and that’s the way those two organizations are supposed to work. We are very happy with the people’s generosity.”
Smejkal said the fundraiser has received a variety of private donations. In addition, many community organizations and businesses are running fundraisers for the baseball program. He said the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have provided some donations and the Green Bay Rockers baseball club, for its opening weekend May 29-31, will be charging $15 for a ticket and hat, with $7 going the Clintonville Truckers baseball program.
Those who wish to donate can use a QR code on the “Clintonville Trucker Baseball” Facebook page. The QR code is set to expire on April 25, so donation after that would need to be mailed to Clintonville High School. Smejkal said if anyone wants to donate directly to the Legion, Babe Ruth, or Clintonville A’s teams, he can get them the contact information for those teams.
“It’s really been almost overwhelming with the amount that’s coming our way. Every little bit is going to help because we really truly don’t know what this is going to cost us,” Smejkal said. “The buildings down there are shot. They’re on their way out, so anything we get in excess is definitely going to go towards that fund or towards making it a better program for the kids.”