Diamond dreams realized

W ith approximately 900 players ages 5-18 playing on 70 teams, Boardman Community Baseball’s Fields of Dreams is one busy place throughout the spring and summer.

Now in its 14th year, the Fields of Dreams, located on McClurg Road, has 20 fields.

Overseeing the complex is BCB’s Board of Directors, which has about four dozen positions and volunteers to fill them.

“It’s a small business we run,” said Rick Fryda, who is vice president for girls. “It’s amazing what they do here with the small amount of money that they get. It really is.”

Tim Kaple, has been BCB president for three years and involved with the program for 20 years, said it’s volunteers who make their program succeed.

“There’s no doubt it takes [our board] plus more to make this happen,” Kaple said. “It’s not [a case of] where we just open the gates and everything is taken care of.

“We have people who are here because their kids are involved and they want to be part of what their children are doing,” Kaple said.

Other volunteers, like Kaple and secretary Greg Krieger, are there even though their children are grown.

“We’re here because we think the community has a great asset here,” Kaple said. “We want it to continue.”