Coupeville Sports

A new backstop for CHS softball should cut down on foul balls flying free but also is a point of contention for those who want the prairie’s vistas preserved. (Photo property Coupeville School District)

Liability concerns carried the day.

While acknowledging the concerns of Ebey’s Reserve supporters, the Coupeville School Board voted 5-0 Thursday to approve work on the high school softball field.

The $150,000 contract with Oak Harbor’s Valdez Construction, paid for by a voter-approved levy, will center around the installation of a new 28-foot-tall backstop.

The scoreboard will also be moved.

The addition will bring CHS into better compliance with Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and Title IX guidelines, said Coupeville Schools Superintendent Shannon Leatherwood.

The current low-slung backstop was built when Washington state softball teams played slow-pitch.

Once CHS moved into playing fastpitch in 2002, the number of foul balls screaming over the barrier greatly increased, with the mobile home park across from the field on Terry Road, as well as cars in the road, under constant assault.

School Board Director Bryan Sherman acknowledged that at Thursday’s meeting, saying he has frequently had softballs fly his way while traveling by tractor from his family’s farmland through town.

There is also a danger presented by Wolf softball players running into the street to retrieve those balls, he said.

The new backstop, while being much taller, will also be curved at the top, preventing the majority of foul balls from escaping and landing on spectators in the stands.

“Spectator injury is a major concern for the district from a liability standpoint,” Leatherwood said.

Concerns were raised this week by the daughters of the late Pastor Dave Engle, whose family worked extensively on the preservation of the reserve.

Specifically, they are disappointed that the Historical Preservation Committe voted to approve the installation of the backstop, despite the desire of Ebey’s Reserve supporters to “keep this specific land free of permanent structures that detract from the historic view — to keep it as it was.”

The Engles, seventh generation prairie pioneers, previously owned the land on which both the school’s softball and baseball fields sit.

When the original land exchange was made in 2000, there was much talk about building a sports complex which would have both fields on the same side of the road, with bathrooms and concession stands.

There are memories of a fundraiser being planned which would have allowed people to buy tiles with people’s names on them, which would have been used in those bathrooms.

That’s where things get hazy in the passage of time.

The superintendent at the time, Suzanne Bond, has passed away, and Leatherwood told board directors Thursday she has not been able to find any agreements in writing while going through school records.

In both a letter to the board from the family and in public comments during Thursday’s meeting by former longtime CHS cheer coach Sylvia Arnold — Dave Engle’s eldest daughter — the Engles asked for the new backstop to be tabled.

“Reconsider the vision (for the sport complex) to be built across the street and all it could be, please,” Arnold said.

Ultimately board members chose to try and find a middle path.

Several of them spoke of a desire to see if voters would consider supporting the sports complex dangled 25 years ago, while saying they needed to deal with liability and safety issues first.

“This backstop is needed right now,” said Nancy Conard. “It doesn’t have to be a permanent thing, but it gives us time to work on an answer which takes into consideration everyone’s concerns.”