Softball organizations across the Valley have come together to save three of Phoenix’s key softball venues from closure due to city budget cuts.

The future of the softball facilities at the Rose Mofford, Desert West and Papago sports complexes seems a bit brighter due to the efforts and cooperation of Triple Crown Sports, USSSA Softball, Cactus City Softball, Arizona Senior Softball, the Arizona Interscholastic Association, and Tournament Sports Adult Softball. Because of the importance of these parks to the youth and adult softball communities, these organizations worked with one another to devise a plan to keep the facilities up and running.

“I’ve been involved in softball for 22 years, and I've never seen a group of organizations come together the way they did,” said city of Phoenix parks and recreation deputy director Rob Harman. “They've made the softball community very proud.”

The plan to save the softball facilities involves adding a $50 per team surcharge to all youth softball tournaments at the facilities, said Harman. Additionally, youth softball teams will see a $2-per-hour rate hike, from $10 to $12, for all facility uses including practices and league games, said Harman.

There will also be a $25 per team surcharge to all adult softball tournaments, said Bobby Pena of Triple Crown Sports.

When the situation with the parks became dire, Pena immediately took the lead in the effort to save the facilities and crunched the numbers until he came up with a plan that he thought could keep them up and running. Once he devised a strategy that made the most fiscal sense, Pena took the idea to the other organizations to gain some support before taking it before the city, Pena said.

Another plan to raise revenue for the city that was considered centered on charging gate fees to fans at all tournaments. However, the estimated cost to a team’s family and fans in that scenario would have been $108-$150 per tournament, so the surcharge plan makes more sense fiscally for teams, said Pena.

Of the major organizations involved, only the Arizona Amateur Softball Association did not agree to the terms of the deal.

ATH for Wednesday:

Despite running one of the most well-known restaurants in his neighborhood, Jeff Killeen is making room to take on new roles of baseball coach and philanthropist.

Killeen is fairly well known throughout the Arcadia community because of his involvement in the family’s 50-year-old Mexican restaurant, TeePee. Killeen, known as “Jefe,” and his sister Julianna grew up with the restaurant and are currently the third generation of their family to run Arcadia’s most famous Mexican food joint.

Killeen is also an assistant baseball coach at Camelback High School. Although the school’s baseball glory days are all but forgotten, the Arcadia High School graduate is certain that the Camelback baseball Spartans are ripe for a comeback.

“Back in the day, Camelback was the place to be,” Killeen said. “We are starting from scratch with a lot of our players baseball-wise, but we should make some noise this season.”

Many of the students at Camelback don’t enter the school with extensive baseball knowledge, said Killeen. While most of the players at neighboring schools like Arcadia have been in the game since tee-ball, the coaches at Camelback are working from the ground up and must establish a new baseball foundation at the school.

In addition to teaching baseball to a wide variety of students, Jeff and his fellow coaches are looking to improve Camelback’s image and benefit players on and off the field.

With the ever-present threat of gangs and other sordid activities hovering over high school students, the Spartan coaches are helping to build a positive and productive environment for their players, said Killeen.

“Our players do a lot of charity work,” he said, “probably more than any other team in the district.”

Outside of Camelback, Killeen is reaching out to less fortunate baseball players around the Valley through his charity Dry Heat Baseball. The charity helps out players and teams in Phoenix that cannot afford equipment and/or league fees.

Much like his work at Camelback, the point of Dry Heat is to keep boys and girls productive, busy and out of gangs.

“I am a firm believer that kids need to play sports,” Killeen said. “We’ll even help out some football teams if they need it.”

ATH for Tuesday:

The highlight of a community-wide fundraising project to improve the Arcadia High School baseball facilities will be unveiled Saturday at the Titans next home game, against Bradshaw Mountain.

While most of the benefits of the fundraiser have been on display since the season opened, the team’s enormous new scoreboard will be assembled and installed later this week. The new board will dwarf the old one in size and serve as an excellent advertising platform for sponsors.

Other benefits of the fundraiser include new sod for the field, a brand new green windscreen on the outfield wall and new field-care equipment. Fans have also taken note of the brand new bleachers and sound system.

“This is the biggest news in Arcadia baseball in the last 20 years,” said Arcadia High School baseball booster Don MacWilliam.

The boosters hit the pavement in order to raise money for the project, said MacWilliam. All of the money came from private donations, business sponsors, the Buy-A-Brick fundraiser and other community efforts.

“The community has really stepped up and taken this project to heart,” said MacWilliam.

All bricks from the Buy-A-Brick fundraiser contain a special message from contributors and currently pave a special section in front of the snack bar.

More Around the Horn, click here!