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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Iowa Community College
baseball conference inks
deal for tourney in Carroll
By
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Iowa Community College Athletic Conference has just signed a four-year deal with the city of Carroll to hold an annual championship tournament at the stadium here.
Carroll City Council members Monday night approved the contract to lease the Carroll Baseball Stadium to the community college association for a tournament slated to run over five days, from May 7 through 11. The ICCAC will pay $100 a day for exclusive rights to the stadium starting this spring.
"Carroll has a long history of good baseball there," said Nic Scandrett, ICCAC assistant commissioner and sports information director. "It's still a great facility but doesn't get used as much as it should."
The stadium used to be home to the Class 1A and 3A state high school baseball tournaments, which moved on to Des Moines' Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs, in 2005. But all was not lost for Carroll as the community college coaches and administrations, who followed high school ball, became familiar with the stadium.
Scandrett said it made sense to consolidate the tournament in Carroll rather than hold it at different colleges around Iowa.
"Carroll was one venue that came up right away," Scandrett told the Daily Times Herald in a phone interview from the ICCAC headquarters in Ames this morning.
The ICCAC, like big college athletics, divides its sports in divisions. Carroll will host the ICCAC Division II tourney with seven teams: Des Moines Area Community College, Ellsworth, Iowa Central, Iowa Lakes, Kirkwood, Northern Iowa Area Community College and Southeastern Community College.
Scandrett said Carroll fans can expect high-caliber baseball from the ICCAC.
He said there is a misconception or stereotype that community college players are only at those schools because of grade issues.
"The biggest thing for people to understand is that these athletes are the stars of tomorrow," Scandrett said. "There kids are going to move on to play somewhere."
DMACC alone had several players go on to NCAA ball in recent years, and the ICCAC sends athletes to the professional ranks as well, Scandrett said.
For his part, Mayor Jim Pedelty said the tournament is a wonderful addition to Carroll.
"It truly is another opportunity to show off Carroll," Pedelty said.
In other business, the council:
- Continued discussion on an agriculture-preservation zoning district designed to protect farming interests and promote orderly development in the 2-mile area around Carroll. No action was taken at the meeting, but council members reached a consensus that they wanted any ordinance to grandfather in existing homeowners and landowners in any zoning scheme.
City attorney David Bruner will now draft an ordinance for the council to consider at an upcoming meeting.
- Approved John DeBolt and Mary Baumhover for three-year terms on the Historical Preservation Commission.
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