Jefferson City Parks welcomes Little League

Jefferson City Little League will start playing on fields owned by the city's Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department this summer.

Late last week, parks officials announced Little League of Jefferson City would begin playing on department fields this year, after six years of the league using the Post 5 American Legion Park. A news release said the department would continue offering its own summer recreational baseball league at the same time.

Tina Werner, general recreation and support services division director, said staff believes the department's 15 fields will be able to serve both the parks program and Little League without much issue. With 15 fields available for three games per night on weekdays, Werner said they can accommodate 75 games during the week, plus an additional 30 games from Saturday and Sunday. (She did note the only league that played Sundays was one of the parks T-ball leagues.)

"We anticipate having enough," Werner said.

But it's difficult to say for sure, as neither Little League nor parks has held registration for the summer leagues yet, so they don't know how many teams there will be and how many fields will be needed, Werner said.

Last summer department fields were used 42 times per week, plus one field on Saturdays for Special Olympics practices and two on Sunday for T-ball and coach-pitch, Werner said.

Last year the department had a total of 31 baseball teams, 37 softball teams (plus an additional 14 competitive teams in spring), 47 T-ball/coach-pitch teams and six Miracle League teams. The Start Smart baseball program had 124 participants using two fields per week, and Special Olympics used department fields for softball practice on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Werner said Vivion Field at Washington Park is used almost exclusively by Jefferson City High School during weekdays in March through May, and Lincoln University will be using Duensing Field at Washington Park through April as the LU field is unavailable while the planned Lincoln University/Parks and Recreation Wellness and Multipurpose Recreation Center is under construction on Lafayette Street.

With Little League starting in April, it will make it easier to accommodate both as the parks league doesn't start until mid-May, Werner said.

"They should be winding down when our league starts," Werner said.