The Armstrong/Cooper Girls Fastpitch Association and the Robbinsdale Recreation, Parks and Facilities department teamed up last week for a ribbon cutting event at Sanborn Park to celebrate a new softball field. The field is the result of a multi-year process to find a longterm local home for the association. The June 20 festivities included the activity at the core of the work: youth softball. The field hosted one 8U and one 10U scrimmage to celebrate the ribbon cutting ceremony.
The search for a home has been a long one for the association, with quality local options limited beyond the high school fields at Armstrong and Cooper high schools. Association president and New Hope resident Joe Girod wrote a letter to the editor to the Sun Post last summer on the matter. The letter was published on June 4.
“In the last few years, we have experienced tremendous growth,” the letter read. “[Unfortunately] in the entire school district, there are only two fields dedicated to girls fastpitch with basic amenities like covered dugouts and regulation fences. We were pleased to see that the city of New Hope is investing $900,000 in its baseball field. However, AC Fastpitch has been advocating for similar investments in girls fastpitch fields with local cities and the school district. Other than the city of Robbinsdale, no other entities have made a commitment to support our female athletes.”
Girod’s 2023 letter also noted the anniversary of Title IX at the time and discussed the decline in several girls sports programs in the area at the time. In recent years, several area schools have seen program cuts or co-oping in typically flagship girls sports.
“Last year was the 50th anniversary of Title IX which transformed our society by providing girls and women with equal opportunities,” Girod wrote. “Yet in working-class communities across the country, girls’ sports participation is declining. ... AC Fastpitch is turning this tide by stressing affordability and accessibility, but we need community partners in our cities and the school district to step up and help us thrive.”
The association serves a wide area, including the cities of Golden Valley, Robbinsdale, New Hope, Crystal, Plymouth, Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center (following the Robbinsdale Area Schools attendance boundaries).
Girod was the main speaker at Thursday’s ribbon cutting, a celebration that commemorated an answer to some of the questions raised by his letter a year prior. Almost exactly 12 months later, Girod discussed the road to completing the Sanborn project.
“We’re so excited to be here today. ... We’re creating a thriving fastpitch community and the outpouring of support today shows you it’s happening,” Girod said to the assembled crowd. “This field is very important to us. There are no fields in this district for girls this age. This is the very first one. I want to thank the City of Robbinsdale, the city, the mayor, the council, the parks and rec department. I want to thank recreation supervisor Matt Bazyk. ... Hennepin County has given us a grant of $10,000 this year, which we’ve used to purchase fields. ... These girls have deserved better than they had in the past and [Bazyk] and everyone else is working to make that happen.”
Additional points of excitement included the announcement that the association will host 8U and 10U “fall ball” games at the field this year, and that the association is working with the city to improve other fields in the park. Hosting tournaments, notably, requires three standard-meeting fields.
Bazyk spoke briefly at the event, discussing his appreciation for lessons learned from the fastpitch community as well as passing credit on to his predecessors who got the project rolling.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone at AC Fastpitch,” Bazyk said. “You all have opened my eyes to how much inequity there is with the playing facilities we have for boys and girls. This field was [also] the work of my predecessor Ryan Parks and Scott Welly.”
The event was followed by more success for the association this summer, as the 14U Red team won first in the Bemidji Blaze tournament later in the week. That team consists of Ella Cooley, Ava Kaderly, Maddie Schultz, Saraphina Wilhelm, Amelia Wodtke, Sofia Sanchez, Lauren Zimmerma, Payton Larson, Kiaya Johnson, Brooklyn Gerber, and Anna Nightengale.
Additional information about the summer ball schedule for the Armstrong Cooper Girls Fastpitch Association can be found at armstrongcooperfastpitch.org.
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