With a certain amount of creativity, it’s not too hard to imagine green fields stretching out beyond a pair of pitcher’s mounds, the sounds of cracking bats and cheering parents on the breeze.

Today, those fields are little more than a mud pit, and the only sound on the breeze is construction equipment and passing cars, but if Richard “Roskow” Roskowinski has his way, by July 4 next year, grass, packed bleachers and hordes of ball-playing kids will be what this five-acre piece of land is all about.

Roskowinski is the director for the Youth Baseball of Southwestern Colorado’s newest project: two youth baseball fields under construction on a five-acre plot of land in Bodo Park donated by the Animas La Plata Project and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

“Our board is just excited to get the grass growing and get kids out there playing the sport they love,” said Jeff Robbins, one of the YBSWC board members who handled the donation details.

Robbins said the board long has recognized that Durango is short on ballfields to service the nearly 400 kids in the YBSWC and about 800 total ballplayers in the region who participate in local tournaments and programs.

With inclement weather, games get backed up; Roskowinski said the reason is there’s simply not enough space to begin with.

“We’re just desperately short on ballfields for kids,” YBSWC board chairman Matt Pope said. “There’s literally nowhere to practice.”

With that need in mind, Robbins said the league started looking around the community for new land to develop. Its eye fell on the Bodo Park land, which was to be designated for public purposes once the Animas La Plata project site in Bodo got up and running.

The YBSWC jumped at the opportunity about a year ago, Robbins said, and after working out the details and hurdling a few bureaucratic hoops, the YBSWC landed a 20-year, $100-a-year lease, courtesy of the ALP.

“I think they believed it was a good use of the property and great for the community in this region to support the youth baseball,” said Bruce Whitehead, ALP’s executive director, about the projects decision to lease the land to the baseball league.

Then the hard work began.

“It’s a pretty lofty undertaking for us,” Robbins said.

Roskowinski is no stranger to sports complex projects, though, after heading up the construction of Fort Lewis College’s softball fields.

The two baseball fields in Bodo Park will be intended for younger age groups. One will be the size of the local Folsom Field; the other the size of Riverview. The complex also will include a warmup area, concession stands, bathrooms and a parking area. The total cost of the project will be about $300,000 – $500,000 with future lighting.

But Roskowinski said completing the whole project shouldn’t be a problem, especially with the amount of support shown by the community.

Beth Lamberson, who’s spearheaded the grant writing and general publicity for the YBSWC, said the project already has received $80,000 in cash or in-kind donations from individuals, organizations and businesses.

“It was like ‘Oh man, lock and load,’” Lamberson said.

Roskowinski also said local construction and supply companies have been more than generous in their support. Already the water, sewer and sanitation lines have been put in under the field, and the sprinkler system installations are moving ahead by way of local businesses, he said.

Those type of donations are critical, Roskowinski said, because the YBSWC can’t take out a loan to get the fields finished. What he has is what he can spend, he said; in this down economy finances are “really, really a struggle.”

Big donations or little donations, everything helps, Pope said, and the board appreciates all the community support.

“Although I know times are hard for everybody, the support has been pretty amazing,” Pope said. “It’s just exciting to see the community come together. People have really rolled up their sleeves and pitched in. It’s really nice to see and be apart of.”

And once the project is completed, it won’t be just the local youth baseball community that benefits. Although the new fields will allow teams options for practice, Robbins said the new space will allow Durango to host more tournaments.

Pope said the fields will be an immediate benefit for youth softball in Durango, as the YBSWC carves out some space for the girls teams as well. Roskowinski said the league is planning on leasing the field out to football or other sports teams in baseball’s offseason. It will be a true multipurpose facility, he said, for the benefit of the whole community.

“This is a project that’s going to be here forever,” he said.

heraldsports@durangoherald.com