Deer Lakes Youth Baseball Association gets Pirates grant

Safety is a top priority for the Deer Lakes Youth Baseball Association, and a matching “Fields for Kids” grant from Pirates Charities will help keep that mission going.

Pirates Charities, the philanthropic arm of the Pittsburgh Pirates, announced Wednesday that the association will receive grant money to improve fencing on one of its fields at the Bairdford Park complex in West Deer Township.

“The Pirates always do a great job of offering grants for improvements to fields each year,” Deer Lakes Youth Baseball Association president Jay Fraser said.

“We are grateful to receive this money to help with an important project we have.”

The project will see approximately 70 feet of infield fencing down both baselines on one of the fields (B5) raised from four feet to eight feet. Fraser said portions of the backstop will be repaired or replaced, gates going into the dugouts will be added and a gate in left field will be repaired.

The Deer Lakes association, Fraser said, will pay $5,500 to match what will come from the Pirates to cover the total cost of the work done by Gibsonia-based Ford Fencing.

Fraser said Ford Fencing hopes to begin the work, weather permitting, the third week of February and have it finished by the second week of March.

“We had raised all of the similar fences on our other fields, and this was the last one,” Fraser said.

“The Pirates were generous in helping us replace that fencing. We’re excited about that.”

Fraser said Deer Lakes submitted an application with the project proposal, including costs, to Pirates Charities.

The specific field work that will be aided by the Pirates Charities grant is part of a larger $35,000 overall project to spruce up the fields at the complex in advance of the season opener April 24.

Fraser said the Bairdford complex also got a boost recently with work done by West Deer Township to repair a wall behind the backstop and improve drainage on its B1 field.

In all, Pirates Charities, in partnership with the Pittsburgh-based Tull Family Foundation, distributed matching grants to nine organizations that operate youth baseball and softball programs in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

“One of our top priorities with the Fields for Kids program is to ensure youth in the greater Pittsburgh area have a safe and updated environment to play baseball and softball,” Pirates spokesman Terry Rodgers said.

“The Deer Lakes Youth Baseball Association matching grant is a perfect example of the type of projects we are helping fund throughout our community. We learned of the project when we received the grant request, and we are proud to be able to support the Deer Lakes community.”

The Field For Kids grants, Pirates Charities stresses, can be used in a variety of ways, including upgrading sod, infield playing surfaces, dugouts and irrigation systems.

Upgrades to an overall facility, including lights, bleachers, scoreboards, concession stands and accessibility improvements, also are eligible.

Four of the nine organizations receiving matching grants are from Pennsylvania, including Oakdale Youth League in Allegheny County.

Since its inception in 2009, the Fields for Kids program has presented 373 grants to organizations in the Pittsburgh region.