Baseball, softball considered at Jackson Heights

Interest in baseball and softball has grown to a point where it could soon be offered at Jackson Heights High School, according to a pitch from two district patrons to the USD 335 Board of Education on Monday.

Russell Bacon and Topher Dohl met with the board to discuss the possibility of adding varsity and junior varsity baseball and softball programs at JHHS, which, if approved, would see their first innings in spring 2018.

Bacon and Dohl also presented board members with a list of likely costs to bring the programs to the plate, noting that each program could cost between $14,000 and $15,000 in their first year and close to $10,000 per year after that. Board members did not take any immediate action on the proposal but agreed to take it under consideration.

Bacon said Jackson Heights is one of two schools in the Northeast Kansas League that does not offer a baseball or softball program, adding that interest in the two sports is growing.

“We’ve had a lot of interest lately on the softball side, and on the baseball side, some of you may have noticed that our numbers in our area baseball leagues are actually growing,” Bacon told the board. “Kids want to play, and school is one of the options.”

However, it was later noted that Jackson Heights is one of three schools in the Northeast Kansas League that does not offer baseball or softball. Jefferson County North and Horton currently do not offer those programs, it was reported.

Another school in the NEK League, Leavenworth-Immaculata, currently offers baseball and softball in a cooperative agreement with another school outside the league, since the school reportedly does not have enough students to offer the sports on its own.

If the district approves the programs, Dohl offered the services of the baseball field at the Netawaka Athletic Club for three years without charge to the district. Bacon also noted that a practice field could be established on the school grounds.

First-year costs for baseball and softball programs, Bacon and Dohl estimated, would be $14,651.08 and $14,081.48, respectively, based on a 25-person roster for each team. About $9,000 of those costs would go for “other costs,” such as coach salaries, transportation, administration and umpires, with $9,979 estimated for baseball and $9,479 estimated for softball in yearly program maintenance after the first year.

As for an exact number of students interested in the two programs, Bacon said he wanted to team up with the board to poll Heights students, since many of them have shown an interest in participating in more than one sport at once. But Jackson Heights Athletic Director Lyle Alley advised Bacon and Dohl not to trust the results of such polls entirely.

“Some of those kids who answer those polls are going to be those who have never participated in any sport,” Alley said. “Those polls aren’t always as accurate as you think.”

Alley also expressed concern that getting kids to participate in a baseball and softball program would “destroy” participation in the school’s current spring sports activity: track and field. He asked board members to consider what happened to the track program at Valley Falls High School after baseball and softball started there.

“They only had 10 kids out for track this year,” he said, noting the Cobra track team finished its 2016 season with 56 participants. “Who knows what would happen to our program?”

Another problem would involve those students who participate in two sports at once when both of those sports teams are slated for state tournaments, and board member Konrad Coe said those students “would have to declare” which team they would go with for the rest of the season. 

Coe also answered Alley’s concern about the possibility of track team participation decreasing due to ball team participation.

“We just spent about $600,000 on a really nice track upgrade,” he said. “I’d hate to see that messed up.”

In addition to track, sports currently offered at Jackson Heights High School include football, volleyball, cross country and basketball. A proposal to add wrestling to the list was heard by the board in December 2010, but board members decided two months later not to add the sport.