There are number of changes under way in the restructuring of youth baseball in Albert Lea this spring and for the future.

The first change begins this spring with the Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Department giving up its control of T-ball and coach-pitch baseball. There will also be a U-12 traveling team this spring for girls in Albert Lea.

This spring T-ball and coach-pitch baseball will be absorbed by a new entity to be called Albert Lea Community Baseball.

Albert Lea Community Baseball will eventually be a combination of the Albert Lea Youth Baseball Association and the Knights baseball organization.

Kelly Borderwick will be the contact person for T-ball and coach-pitch baseball beginning this spring.

Borderwick said the teams will now be modeled after major league teams and will play in neighborhood parks throughout Albert Lea. The parks include Morin, Academy, Sibley, Edgewater, Valley and Hawthorne.

The inclusion of T-ball and coach-pitch softball is the first step being taken to form a partnership between the Albert Lea Youth Baseball Association and the Albert Lea Knights baseball program.

The Knights are a youth traveling baseball organization that was started in 2006 to provide traveling baseball opportunities to 9, 10 and 11-year-old baseball players.

Prior to 2006, the Albert Lea Youth Baseball Association was in charge of youth baseball for ages 9 to 15. The ALYBA ran just one team for players ages 12-and-under, but all of that changed with the Knights coming into existence in 2006.

Organizers of the Knights felt that teams of 9 and 10-year-olds could be formed, but the ALYBA felt that the numbers weren’t always there to elicit a team for each age.

In addition to being in charge of traveling baseball for U-12, U-13, U-15 and U-15 teams, the ALYBA has also been in charge of the in-house program for the last four-to-five years after the Parks and Rec Department relinquished control.

Out of the three entities, there is now a push for consolidation.

Part one of the process has taken place with the Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Department handing over control of the T-ball and coach-pitch leagues to what will become Albert Lea Community Baseball. The second part involves the ALYBA and the Knights combing to form one blanket organization, which would be called Albert Lea Community Baseball.

The push for one baseball organization is largely based on drumming up support for a new baseball complex at J.M. Synder Fields. For the past three years there has been discussion within the community about renovating Snyder Fields. In order to expedite the process the suggestion has been made that it would be easier if there were just one youth baseball organization in Albert Lea.

The facilities at Snyder Fields are outdated and in need of a facelift, said Jay Enderson of the ALYBA. The facility was built in the 1971 and the conditions have worsen in that time.

“The fields are shot,” said Joe Grossman, Albert Lea Parks superintendent. “The drainage is inadequate. We’ve had to remove lights and fencing from the field. We’ve had light poles pushed out of the ground by five feet.”

Riverland Community College owns the land and has rented the space to the city for $1 a year. Enderson said that Riverland has no problems with changes being made to the fields.

“We’re not to the point where we’re set, but the design is pretty much out there, the field design is there,” said Jay Enderson of the ALYBA. “The biggest thing is money. We’re at a tricky time right now. The city would have to bond for the basic fields. We’d have to fundraise for all the amenities.”

Enderson said the ALYBA and the city paid for Paragon Associates, a civil engineering firm from La Crosse, Wis., to come up with a tentative reconfiguration of the fields last summer. The basic changes came with a price tag of roughly $1.5 million.

As it stands now the plan would be to turn Snyder Fields into a seven-field complex. The plan would eliminate field five, the southeast field and reconfigure field four and upgrade fields one and two. Field three would get turned around as well, while two fields would be added on the east end toward the Hammer Field complex, Enderson said.

“In all honesty if you built it like we want it, it’d cost $3 million,” Enderson said. “What we’re looking at more is we’re going to build these fields in and redo these fields … without taking everything away so we have no place to play.”

The basic cost of the project wouldn’t include lights, fencing, dugouts and other amenities, and a large fundraising effort would be needed to provide those features.

Enderson, Grossman, Albert Lea Parks and Recreation Director Jay Hutchison, Jack Rovang of the ALYBA and several others have been discussing ways to cut the cost of the basic changes.

It’s a hefty cost considering the economy, but Enderson believes the benefit would be great.

Enderson said with six-to-eight tournaments a year at the new complex, it would raise $400,000 to $500,000 a year in income for the city with players and families from out of town traveling to play.

A plan is in place to bring the issue up to the City Council, but no timetable has been set.

“Financially we think it’s going to be a win-win in the long run,” Enderson said.