As he pushes through the doorway leading down a corridor to middle life, Chip Netzel, tall and square-shouldered, retains all that matters of his athletic profile. Silhouetted against the mid-morning summer sunshine, starting with his nearly permanent baseball cap, Mr. Netzel looks like the classic Little League coach/promoter that he is, standing on the sidelines of the adjoining baseball diamonds at the top of Bill Botts Field, overlooking a large swath of Culver City.
Athletes complain about the lack of a level playing field, and that, by a winding route, is what he intends to achieve.
“What I am trying to do,” Mr. Netzel explained, “is to push forward the process of getting these baseball fields updated so they become a really first-rate facility, and a safe one, for all the kids. More than just baseball is here. AYSO also plays soccer on these fields.”
The main problems lie in the outfields of the contiguous fields. Mr. Netzel said there are undulations, gopher holes, strongly uneven ground “that makes the playing surface very difficult for the kids.
“The troubles go beyond the outfield, though,” said one of the community’s best-known Little League coaches.. “That would be too limiting.”
Funding Badly Needed
Fanning his right arm across the entirety of the diamonds, Mr. Netzel said his goal “is to see that this green space — which is a city park that is used for soccer after we finish in mid-August —is fixed up.” He estimates the cost at $75,000.
“We, the Culver City National Little League, spent $30,000 earlier this year redoing the infields of both diamonds,” he said, “but more funds are needed to clean up the outer portions of the fields.
“We take a lot of pride in maintaining our fields. That’s our responsibility. We have invested tens of thousands of dollars. Last year alone, we spent $50,000, which was privately raised, on the two infields here, the dugouts, the stands with bleacher covers on both sides. And the scoreboards were a great donation.”
In all, three baseball layouts are spread atop Bill Botts Field, the remaining one being used by the Culver City Little League, a separate group.
Mr. Netzel said the two outfields used by the Culver City National Little League have been in droopy condition for “well over 10 years.” The diamonds were built on landfills, “so there always were going to be issues. The grounds weren’t engineered properly in the beginning,” he said, when they were laid out in the 1980s.
With the baseball season breathing its last, he would prefer to see the schedule rather than the sloping outfields go downhill.
