Tulsa Softball Teams Say They Can’t Use Savage Park Fields – FOX23 News

TULSA, Okla. – Tulsa Little League and the City of Tulsa said the softball fields at Savage Park are open and available for rent. However, some parents told FOX23 otherwise.

Some parents of Tulsa softball girls feel like they’re weeded out when it comes to finding places to practice in Tulsa.

“It’s unfortunate for women’s softball,” said softball parent Melanie Walker. “This park was built strictly for women’s softball, now the city of Tulsa has no real softball fields.”

Walker said that for more than 20 years, Savage Park has been the lifeline of women’s softball in Tulsa. Tulsa’s only park dedicated to women’s softball.

The Tulsa Girls Softball Federation announced in November that it had been informed by Tulsa City Parks Director Anna America that it would no longer serve the community. In a Facebook post, the federation said: “This decision is not what we wanted to hear, but it is and has never been ‘our’ park, although we have always treated it that way. .”

The post continued, “We will always cherish these experiences and hope you will too. Thank you to the many TGSF volunteers for spending some of your time with us over the years.

Since the Tulsa Little League took him over earlier this year, Walker says his daughter’s team hasn’t been able to practice at Savage Park.

“We’ve just been told they’re not available to rent,” Walker said.

America said this is not the case and the fields are available for lease.

Tulsa Little League staff told FOX23 they’ve had hundreds of reservations and are making thousands of dollars in field improvements.

America also said it was giving the league a year and then the city would send surveys to parents asking if they were satisfied. She explained that this is the city’s way of holding them accountable.

Currently, the City of Tulsa is no longer responsible for maintenance or utility costs under this agreement.

In fact, Tulsa Little League and America told FOX23 they are expanding softball fields to other parks outside of Savage.

“One of the issues we had with Savage is that it’s so remote that it’s so far on the outskirts of town that not many people who actually live here participated. We hope to grow women’s softball and make it more accessible to people in other parts of town,” America said.

Tulsa Little League said it is adding four fields to Hilti Park for softball and LaFortune Park will have softball and grass baseball fields.

Parents send FOX23 an email stating, “Tulsa Little League has been promising the construction of ‘LaFortune’s Diamonds’ for about a decade now. Apart from a few whimsical drawings, nothing has happened to bring this dream closer to reality.

The Tulsa Little League said the tournaments would take place soon, but they didn’t give an exact date.

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