Softball teams play at the Sprotsplex Sunday late afternoon. Staff photo by Kurt Hostetler
MUNCIE – The pace of things plays tricks on you as it gets on toward evening this summer Sunday afternoon.
Out off East Jackson Street, just next to the bypass, it’s time for softball. Most of the fields of the Muncie SportsPlex are filled with players. The relaxed, leisurely atmosphere seems to cover up how fast games go, as innings quickly roll on and one team shuffles out of the dugout to watch another file in. Friends watch from lawn chairs and small bleachers as balls bounce through dusty infields and runs pile up in red numerals glowing on the scoreboards.
But walk the grounds of the Muncie SportsPlex, and one finds a facility battling its age.
It’s the little things. Part of a broken stadium light on the ground just beyond the outfield fence. A foul pole with a notable lean. An aged truck parked between a pair of outfields. The plastic yellow lining atop the fences sun-bleached to a near-white, broken and falling off in spots.
The people who run and use the complex admit it’s not in the shape they want. It’s functional, better than some, but lacks the sheen of a newer facility.
Copyright ©2024 The Star Press