New softball fields in the works

In Woodland, youth baseball has access to six fields. Girls softball has one, non-regulation field.

Former Woodland City Councilman Skip Davies has been advocating for the equal treatment of boys and girls in youth sports for several years. On Wednesday evening, Davies spoke at a Luna Vista Rotary Club meeting to present plans for the construction of three new softball fields.

“This is a project this community needs,” Davies said. “Our girls are treated considerably different than the young men in our community. There is a law in California that is like a Title IX for children and we in Woodland have ignored that.”

Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and settings.

In California, Assembly Bill 2404 became law in 2003 and required equal recreational facilities and programs in youth sports for boys and girls within 10 years. In 2019, AB 2881, known as the Fair Play in Community Sports Act passed, essentially strengthening the law, Davies explained.

Each year, the Woodland Girls Fastpitch Softball Association (WGFSA), which encompasses ages 4-17, has approximately 250 girls participate in the spring program and about 60 to 80 girls play fall ball. The lack of available fields, however, has barred Woodland from hosting tournaments and caused teams to bounce around looking for suitable practice areas.

Davies noted the stark differences between baseball and softball fields, citing the overall size of the fields, the dimensions of the outfield, distance between bases, the pitching circle and the absence of grass in the infield in softball as major reasons why these two sports need separate facilities.

“You have to build these fields for girls,” Davies emphasized. “You can’t play fastpitch softball on a baseball field. This is a different sport.”

The sole girl’s softball field sits at Douglass Middle School. However, because the fences are not in

regulation standards games cannot be hosted at the site. There are also no bathrooms, disabled access or parking and the snack bar is without running water, according to Davies.

“We just don’t have the facilities for these young ladies,” Davies emphasized. “Our plan is to build three fields and we have the land the city of Woodland has given us.”

Access to three regulation standard fields would allow Woodland to host tournaments with 16 to 24 teams per weekend and bring increased revenue to Woodland’s local businesses, according to WGFSA President Olga Giroux.

Tournament fees would go back to the organization to assist with the costs of field maintenance. A snack bar is also in the plans which Giroux emphasized is a huge source of revenue during tournaments.

Giroux, who has a daughter that plays fastpitch for WGFSA, said they have recently seen an increase in the number of players participating and foresees the lack of practice space becoming an issue this spring.

“We had close to 200 girls this fall and we’ve never had numbers that high in fall so I can see those large numbers carrying into the spring,” Giroux said.

Davies said he is looking to break ground by winter 2021 with construction occurring through December 2022. The fields are projected to be operational by spring 2023.

“This is a community effort, a community build project,” Davies said. “We’re asking people to come out and bring their expertise. I’ve seen the community step up before, we can do this.”

The project is projected to cost $930,000 and has raised $450,000 to date. Community members interested in donating to the project can do so through Gofundme.

“It’s not just about fastpitch,” Davies concluded. “It’s about doing something in this community that we should’ve done long before now.”