Nespelem opens big, new ball field

People in Nespelem opened up a new ball field Friday, complete with dugouts, fencing all around, bleachers, a tall backstop, and synthetic turf.

The baseball/softball field can also be used for other activities, such as soccer and flag football.

To underscore that point, after speeches concluded, the first game played was a game of kickball with players of all ages. Little bits of black rubber rose like heavy dust behind runners, then falling immediately back below the fabric that serves as the grass, cushioning the feet.

The new field was built at a field on which the late Gilbert Desautel had built a ball field decades ago, and much of the opening ceremony was dedicated to honoring the Word War II warrior, the first Native American to train as a master deep-sea diver in the Navy.

Randy Friedlander, recently named the new Bureau of Indian Affairs superintendent of the Colville Reservation and grandson to Gilbert, remembered looking down on the field from the family home on a hill a short distance away.

Junior Desautel and his wife Charlene remembered mowing it back then, initially "with a push mower," Junior Desautel said later. He also cut the inaugural ribbon over home plate Friday, and threw the first pitch.

The new field was made possible initially with a $350,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office.

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation added $100,000 to that through the Tribes' partnership with the Boys and Girls Club. The Foundation specializes in helping communities all over the country build sports fields.

Their initial goal had been to build 50 fields, a representative said, although they have now built 111 fields. This was the first built on tribal land.

The Colville Tribes also added funding to the project. An amount was not mentioned.

"I'm glad that we could do something for our youth," said Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Colville Business Council, noting more projects would be coming for basketball court upgrades in tribal communities and a skate park in Inchelium.

Mayor Darcy Epperson said she remembered kids playing on the old ball field in the community. "I'm hoping this will bring some of that back," she said, "and that this will give our youth something new and exciting to do. It's a steppingstone. ... It's amazing."