CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Oilbelt league in Annaville is known as the home of champions. Nearly every year the league produces great teams.
Last year’s junior league squad was the U.S. champion. The kids worked hard and their parents backed them by trying to ensure they have everything they need to succeed.
However, those efforts took a hit recently when someone came and stole the copper wiring from the softball fields lighting system.
"It’s really disheartening when you find out something like this happens," said Jerry Batek, board member of the Oilbelt Little League.
Batek and Jake Martini, the field maintenance coordinator for the team, both met up with 3NEWS to look over the damaged electrical boxes where thieves had ripped out the copper wiring and left their girls softball team's field without lights.
The crime was very costly and has league officials upset.
"When you have an incident like this and we’re running on such a tight budget. It really cuts into those kinds of things," Batek said.
After word got out regarding the theft, the community reached out, asking what they could do to help. Luckily for the little league, someone stepped up to the plate.
"I want to give a shout out to Rodney at Extreme Electric. He’s offered to come and donate his time to get us back up and running," Martini said.
The league is also hoping to be able to put in surveillance cameras, so that the next time someone does something like this, they’ll have video evidence of the crime. It’s hoped that the repairs to the wiring will be completed soon as the league gets set for it spring season with registration beginning in December.
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