11-year-old Sawyer Pietro practices with the Jefferson County Elite baseball travel team at the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex in Elm Grove prior to a game this week. (Photo by Scott McCloskey)
WHEELING — Now in its 20th year of use, the J.B. Chambers I-470 Complex in Elm Grove is beginning to experience a gradual increase in activity following a dramatically slow year in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to officials with the Wheeling Recreation Department.
Tom Bechtel, who served as the recreation director for the City of Wheeling for nearly 45 years and is currently serving as the I-470 field coordinator, said while usage of the facility was dramatically down last year due to the pandemic, more and more baseball and softball teams are beginning to schedule practice and games at the complex moving into the summer season.
While slightly more than 50 teams participated in a softball tournament last fall, Bechtel said the summer leagues were mostly cancelled last year with less than a dozen teams playing.
“So last year was a huge dropoff in terms of practices and games,” Bechtel said. “It dropped off dramatically.”
With the exception of 2020, Bechtel said Wheeling Recreation Department officials were accustomed to a full schedule over the past 15 years.
“I want to say we went from 100% usage down to about 25% usage (in 2020). Now this year, we are still working our way back up,” Bechtel added.
He said things are beginning to look brighter at the complex moving closer to the summer league season. He said the complex is currently back up to around 60 to 70% usage.
“So we’re back and rolling,” he said. “People can’t wait to get out.”
The complex has a total of seven ballfields that accommodate a variety of different age groups and leagues, including Pony, Bronco, Mustang and the Miracle League.
“Wheeling Central and (Wheeling) Park softball both play up there,” Bechtel said. “They didn’t get started until a couple of weeks late, but they have been going full tilt. They started about mid-April.”
He said in addition to Wheeling Central baseball, the complex has also seen a lot of recent activity with Wheeling University’s softball and baseball teams.
“So, we’ve had a lot of that activity all spring, now the little leagues just started here in early May,” he added.
Rochelle Barry, director of parks and Recreation for the city of Wheeling, said she hopes to continue to build on the schedule moving into the summer season. She said they hope to have the concession stand reopened by Memorial Day weekend for a Wheeling Baseball travel team tournament. She said the proceeds from the tournament will go to the Miracle League Field.
The recreation department currently has several part-time workers who take care of the complex and maintain the fields, according to Bechtel. He said he hopes to see additional improvements made to the complex in the future, including, upgrades to the restroom facilities and the addition of lights to three fields at the complex that don’t have lighting.
“We would like to light all the fields,” he added.
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Activity Growing at J.B. Chambers I-470 Sports Complex in Elm Grove - Wheeling Intelligencer
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