The Culture of the Ball Diamond

Michelle Dakin and her father Doug Dakin reflect on the importance of the softball league to Town Park and the culture that revolves around it.

Transcript

Michelle: Every business in town would sponsor these leagues because it was so big to the town like in the 80’s, 70’s 80’s and early 90’s fast ball was so big that every business wanted to sponsor-

Doug: You had no trouble getting a sponsor

Michelle: You had no trouble. Everyone wanted to sponsor a team or sponsor the league or be involved in it in somehow because it was just such a gathering, right? You would just go, like even with now, it’s just Wednesday nights we know were gonna to see everyone at the diamond on Wednesday nights are fans that come every week and its just a thing that they do.

Interviewer: MmHmm

Michelle: Wednesday nights you go to the town park you watch fast ball, July and August you have-you listen to a concert at the same time but it’s just something. And if like, the town park wasn’t there I wouldn’t know what to do, right? I wouldn’t know like even you don’t have to drive by but you drive by just to see the town park, right? Just because you want to see the ball diamond because it’s just such a great ball diamond the town takes such great care of it too because it’s considered a “tier one diamond”, so.

Doug: This is the only true softball diamond in Aurora, right? Thats why theres-

Interviewer: Yeah.

Doug: Its the only one actually built for softball-

Interviewer: Yeah.

Doug: The rest are all built for slow-pitch and the fences are too far…

Interviewer: Okay

Doug: Yeah

Michelle: Yeah, we’ve had two women in the history of our leagues since the 70’s hit the ball out, of the park. So it’s-

Interviewer: Like out of the park?

Michelle: Yeah, so it’s very very hard like out of the fence so it’s a rare thing so everyone is-knows those two people and it’s like uh we don’t want it to happen because we know if it keeps happening…

Interviewer: Yeah

Michelle: Haha, we potentially will get removed especially because we’re on concert nights but yes we have had two, two ladies who have hit it out of the park but…

Interviewer: What’s it like when they hit it out of the park?

Michelle: Well, it was-I wasn’t I don’t think I was there for the first one, for the second one… The first one was in the early early 90’s and then the last one was Erin, Erin Willers in 20-and something and just, everyone just goes crazy.