Athletes in all Batesville youth leagues most likely will start practicing on one new Babe Ruth field and four new Cal Ripken baseball or softball fields in the middle of April 2011 with games starting in the first week or two of May.

Thanks to two sizable donations, the first phase of the city’s baseball/softball complex on a 36-acre site between Coonhunters and Delaware roads should be ready by then, three and a half years after the hunt for dollars began, report fundraising co-chairs Linda Casablanca and Mike Robertson.

“We’ve been helped immensely and we’re so excited about it,” Casablanca says. The John A. Hillenbrand Foundation recently granted $50,000 annually for five years for a total gift of $250,000.

Hillenbrand Inc. leaders have donated $150,000 – $100,000 in 2009 and $50,000 in 2008, according to city clerk-treasurer Ron Weigel. Doug Wilson, Hillenbrand Inc. senior vice president of human resources, said, “Hillenbrand has made a long-term commitment to the Batesville community. The baseball complex will be a wonderful new addition that Batesville residents, including many of our employees and their families, will be able to enjoy and share with visitors for many years to come. We're proud to be part of the community's future.”

Robertson points out the latest offerings “give us a lot of credibility. The community is starting to rally around this.”

Those contributions push the total to $675,000 of the estimated $900,000 needed for the first of three phases.

Other major donors so far include $75,000 each from the Batesville Babe Ruth/ Cal Ripken League, and George and Martha Hillenbrand Foundation; $51,226 from an anonymous donor; $35,000 from a Rising Sun Regional Foundation grant; $10,000 each from the city of Batesville (in Belterra riverboat revenue-sharing funds), and Batesville Tool & Die.

Also, $5,000 each from Peter and Elsa Soderberg, city of Batesville, and Mayor’s Youth Council (gained from its “Batesville’s Got Talent” show); $2,500 each from Margaret Mary Community Hospital, and Batesville Area Columbians; $2,000 from Wilson Family Charitable Fund; $1,000 each from Bruns-Gutzwiller Inc., Alfred and Erma Hartman, and Dan and Ella Laker.

Robertson called collecting 75 percent of the phase’s expense in just over two years “pretty miraculous. A lot of people came together to make this happen.”

Lesser amounts have been given by 26 other businesses, one organization (Batesville High School National Honor Society) and 179 families and individuals. Casablanca emphasizes, “Every donation, no matter the amount, is greatly appreciated because every dollar counts.”

The recession has impacted what they hoped to raise and more money is needed. The 2007 estimate for all three phases was $2.9 million, although Mayor Rick Fledderman said at the time that was for “cream of the crop” features, some of which are optional.

“If everyone would just give a little,” the project could be completed more rapidly, she notes. “To help out, you don’t have to have kids playing. You just need to love kids.”

The co-chair adds, “Anyone donating $50,000 and above can have something named after them, like a field or concession stand.”

Work has begun. To level the playing fields, so to speak, soil is being hauled from the East Pearl Street rehab project to the ball site until perhaps early summer.

After water, electrical and stormwater lines are installed, fields can be laid out by workers. Drainage work and fencing are other steps in the process before grass seed can be spread no later than mid-October, according to Robertson.

Requests for proposals are being sent to three field firms now.

To save money, the mayor said it’s possible city workers could install water and stormwater lines. “We have to see the plans and see if we’re capable” of doing the work.

Volunteers who are handy could also allow dollars to be stretched. “There is no doubt they are out there, but we haven’t tapped them yet,” Robertson says. Committee members are hunting for area residents who could trench in irrigation lines, build a dugout or install fencing free of charge.

Likewise, materials they hope will be donated include block or wood dugout material, fencing, concession stand features and stone for a parking lot.

Persons who have skilled labor or materials to offer may contact Linda Casablanca at 934-2086 or alcasa@etczone.com or Mike Robertson at 933-5444 at mrob33@aol.com.

Some parts of the phase, such as lights, concession stand and dugouts, may have to wait until dollars or materials are found.

The fundraising committee has ranged from five to 20 volunteers, depending on the project. About eight reliables have been involved from the start.

More helpers are needed to accomplish “so many little things” that will allow the league to make more contributions to the complex: distribute registration forms to schools, man a registration table, publicize tournaments, design posters, run errands and enter data on a computer.

For the next moneymaker, baseball and softball players will be selling half-price tickets to a June 19 Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals game.

What happens when the first phase is finished? A second phase will add another Cal Ripken field just east of the original five. A third phase will be dictated by the number of kids in the program. He explains, “If the softball program explodes, we would build another softball field. Or we could install a playground” to occupy brothers and sisters while siblings play ball.

The co-chairs predict the new facility will be an economic boon for Batesville. Robertson says, “When we get these fields done, we should be running two and three tournaments simultaneously at various age levels. The amount of people who come in is (going to be) phenomenal. They’re going to want to eat and drink. They may want to stay in a hotel or sightsee.”

Casablanca reflects, “This complex has been a dream for so long and most of the people on the committee and board don’t even have children playing anymore. We’re still involved because we love baseball and softball and we know what it’s going to mean to the families” not to have to chauffeur children to separate fields.

“It’s going to be awesome.”