A field of their own

Bella DoPadre is used to having batting practice on the grass of the junior varsity soccer field at Northeast High School. The softball team has practiced on the hilly patch, using cones as a makeshift diamond, since the school moved to Cottman Avenue more than 67 years ago.

It has never had a field to call its own, but that could change.

The Northeast Alumni Association has been raising private funding to build a softball field and revitalize the baseball field, which is in poor condition. Last spring, the School District of Philadelphia approved an allocation of funds toward the project, which, according to principal Omar Crowder, is anticipated to cost around six figures.

Both fields are expected to be compliant with the PIAA, meaning playoff games could be hosted at these locations. It would be the first supersite for softball and baseball in the Public League.

However, it has been a slow process. Initially, DoPadre said, the softball team was told that construction would begin on July 1, 2024. The time frame has been extended because of a stormwater management project that will need to be approved before field construction.

Emma Melvin, the district’s green infrastructure program manager, estimated that a stormwater management system can cost from $800,000 to $1 million. While she couldn’t confirm the amount for this project, she said, the overall cost will be “significant.”

“That’s a standard requirement throughout the city,” Jimmy Lynch, executive director of athletics for the School District of Philadelphia said in October.

During a follow-up conversation in March, he added that the plan is to “finish this season, have them out next season playing at a different site or playing away games — then have them return for the spring 2027 season.”

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The district is still waiting on the approval of the stormwater management and field designs, but Lynch anticipated that those could come this spring.

DoPadre, a sophomore pitcher who made varsity as a freshman, said new facilities would give her a sense of motivation and pride that girls’ sports are being supported at Northeast. For members of the Public League, it shows that city schools deserve athletic resources equal to those in the suburbs.

But many aren’t getting their hopes up until they see a shovel hit the ground.

“There’s things that are out of my power, and therefore I give it no mind any further,” said Northeast baseball coach Tom Juhas, who also teaches honors algebra. “When I go to work, it’s not on my list. When it happens, then I’ll be with it, but until that time, I’m going about my business with the resources I have available — that’s it.”

For years, the Northeast softball team competed on the junior varsity soccer field. The school would cut the grass nice and short; dig out bases, a home plate, and pitcher’s circle; and line the field.

Former Vikings coach Tom Kane, who left the program in 2021, described the field as “pretty typical” for a public school in the city.

Kane spent nine years with the softball team, coaching varsity for six and JV for three. Before then, he was the varsity softball coach at Simon Gratz for more than 20 years.

With a campus of its size, the Northeast field looked “a lot better,” he said, compared with those of nearby schools, partially because the grass was well-maintained.

The girls didn’t complain. I really didn’t complain. It just was what it was. It was what we’ve had since I’ve been here, and it’s all any of us have known.

But there aren’t backstops or dugouts on the grass. Instead they used benches and a tiny net behind the catcher.

“It got dangerous sometimes,” Kane said, but he recalled having standout catchers each season because of it.

They made do with what they had.

“The girls didn’t complain. I really didn’t complain. It just was what it was,” said current coach Alexa Bell, who’s also the field hockey coach and is in her eighth year teaching physical education and health. “It was what we’ve had since I’ve been here, and it’s all any of us have known.”

However, coaches, parents, and students wondered why the boys had a baseball field while the girls have never had one. They eventually raised the question to school officials.

The boys’ field isn’t in stellar condition, though. It hasn’t been updated since being built nearly 70 years ago, according to Northeast athletic director Philip Gormley. There are lumps in the infield, and before each season, Juhas and assistant baseball coach Jack Kapp commit time to rake and shovel it — and paint the lines, since the school has one grounds crew.

According to Crowder, the conversation about building a softball field and revitalizing the baseball field began seven years ago with the school’s alumni association. Those talks were put on hold in 2020, when a potential lawsuit came through the school district involving Northeast and other schools regarding Title IX-related issues surrounding the girls’ not having softball fields.

Lynch said a lawsuit was never filed, and there wasn’t an official Title IX complaint. The school district, however, still needed to provide those teams with proper fields.

“There were things that came up,” Lynch said. “There were a few teams that were playing on fields that were not suitable for play. And at that time we worked with the schools to secure permits at rec centers that were in great condition for our students to play.”

Two years ago, the Northeast softball team started playing its home games at Jardel Recreation Center. Jardel is a few blocks away from the Northeast campus.

The team plays on an actual diamond with dirt and fencing. It made “playing a little bit more enjoyable because it felt more real,” Bell said.

But every game day, the team has to walk along busy Cottman Avenue to get to the field. There’s been some concern about safety.

“We don’t have security over there,” Bell said. “The bathroom won’t always be open at the rec center. I had other teams that had to go to the car dealership [across the street] to use the bathroom. It wasn’t the best look. My athletic director has been great. He’s there every game to help out.”

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Lynch noted that moving Northeast’s softball games to Jardel was an interim resolution while the school district worked on building a new field.

“We obviously take it very seriously to ensure that we have gender equity in our athletic programs,” Lynch said. “We’ve been working with them on the whole thing. ... I wouldn’t say that [issue] was brought to our attention and it was the trigger for it, but it obviously reinforced why we’re doing this in the first place.”

At the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, Crowder said, Northeast received a commitment from the school district that it would allocate funding toward the fields and cover the overall cost of construction, which would include the stormwater management system and installation of the field and fencing and care of the field, . Lynch and Crowder could not confirm the cost.

But it won’t cover a dugout, stands, or a scoreboard. Those are considered auxiliary. That’s where the alumni association has stepped in and continued its fundraising efforts.

Kapp, a 1971 Northeast graduate, said the alumni had about $75,000 in promised donations. Carl Cherkin, a 1968 graduate and the vice president of business development for the Philadelphia Union, is well-connected in the area and helped drive those donations.

“It’s a tremendous project,” Kapp said. “I’m really hoping that it comes to fruition. It’s not going to be easy to do all this, to raise all this money, but through the City Council, the school district, and the private funds that we’re raising, it certainly seems like it’s possible.”

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Crowder hopes he can share a plan with the school community before the academic year ends. In May 2024, the principal announced to the softball team during a practice that plans were in the works to build a field while renovating the baseball field.

“He came to them and was like, ‘We’re giving you guys this; you’re going to have it by next year before the season starts — I hope you guys are excited,’” said Bella’s mother, Stacy DoPadre. “Then these girls are driving by all summer, texting each other — nothing, nothing, nothing.”

Since then, students and parents have not been informed about a completion date. Crowder was promised quarterly meetings from the school district to track updates on the project and says he anticipates having another soon.

He came to them and was like, ‘We’re giving you guys this; you’re going to have it by next year before the season starts — I hope you guys are excited.’ Then these girls are driving by all summer, texting each other — nothing, nothing, nothing.

Construction that involves stormwater management, which the district installed for athletic use at Lincoln High School in 2022, generally takes a long time since it has to go through the Philadelphia Water Department, Lynch explained.

“You’re disturbing ground with changing the surface, and it triggers it,” he said. “In my nine years here, this is the first project of this magnitude, but I do know that it is done regularly throughout the district for a variety of different projects.”

The baseball field will be updated at its current location on campus, while the new softball field is planned to be on the team’s practice field, near the tennis courts by Algon Avenue.

DoPadre hopes to someday play on the school’s first state-of-the-art field. Northeast, she said, is better known for its football program, but if more resources were put into girls’ sports, maybe that could change.

For now, only time will tell.

“A new field would show the importance for the girls how they should be treated equal,” said Bell, a Neshaminy graduate. “Whether it’s boys’ vs. girls’ sports or whether it’s suburban vs. city sports, because I think that’s where there’s a big disconnect.”