Webutuck baseball to split field time between campus and town park

AMENIA — With baseball season just around the corner, it won’t be long until players on the Webutuck Central School District’s (WCSD) baseball teams will have their moment to shine on the field. For the coming season, the Warriors will have the chance to play on their own field as well as the fields at Beekman Park (located at 5270 Route 22, Amenia), thanks to an agreement between Webutuck and the town.

When the district began work on its capital improvement plan this past summer, it started with the septic system; the baseball fields went under construction and therefore were inaccessible to the baseball teams for practice and games. The school district then reached out to the town of Amenia to request use of its baseball fields for all practices and scheduled home games for the 2021 season. 

Though the septic system was installed this past fall and the fields at Webutuck are now ready for use, Superintendent of Schools Raymond Castellani said the WCSD will use both its baseball field and the fields at Beekman Park as it will allow Webutuck more opportunities for its students to play baseball at all levels.

At its meeting on Thursday, April 1, the Amenia Town Board granted the WCSD a revocable license agreement (RLA) for the Webutuck High School varsity baseball program to use the baseball field at Beekman Park. The RLA’s term officially began on Monday, April 19, and will continue through Friday, June 4.

Included in the RLA’s terms, Webutuck will be responsible for preparing the fields before and after every game and cleaning the field, dugouts, bleachers and all other areas of all garbage. In addition to providing all supervision, coaches and instructors and obtaining and hiring all umpires, the school district will also be responsible for any damages that may occur. Meanwhile, Amenia will be responsible for all maintenance and repairs of the field’s facilities and will be responsible for providing the bases, pitching mound, pitcher’s rubber and home plate.

“We’re extremely grateful to have a partner in our students’ well-being, education and athletics in the town of Amenia,” said Castellani. “They have been extremely gracious in allowing our students to use the fields and continue to use those fields as needed.”

“We are also really excited that after over a decade of not being able to use our high school field, with the completion of our capital improvement project, our students will be able to play on the home field at their school,” he added.

The Webutuck Warriors varsity baseball team is scheduled to compete against the Dover Dragons at Beekman Park at 4:15 p.m. on Monday, May 3. That same day, the Webutuck junior varsity baseball team will compete at Dover at Dover High School at 4:15 p.m.