Thanks to the work of several volunteers, the common area of the
Hillcrest Ball Diamonds has been re-landscaped with limestone crush, increasing player and spectator safety as well as visual appeal.

Kimberley Massey photo

Team Heat player Kara Civitarese gives teammate Kim Miskulin a piggy-back ride between innings.

Municipality of Crowsnest Pass Director of Community Services Cam Mertz said the project has been in the works for several months, but over the last two months there has been a real push from volunteers and the softball association to finish the work so it would be complete in time for the slo-pitch league’s year end tournament on August 26th and 27th.
“It’s a really extensive volunteer project that happened out here,” said Mertz.
He said one of the key volunteers who helped to organize the project was Crowsnest Pass Slo-Pitch League Secretary / Treasurer Colleen McNeil.
McNeil said she and several players were sick of the old land work, which consisted of dirt and large rocks similar to that which can be seen in the parking area, as it was uneven, unsafe and an eyesore.
“It was really shoddy,” she said. “It was time for a change.”
Mertz and McNeil organized four volunteers as well as summer students with the municipality to remove the large rocks from the common area.
Once that was complete, Alberta Excavation donated a loader and worker to move the dirt from one area to another, and Kent Strandquist and Ernie Boucher donated their time and operated a bobcat and grader donated by Caber Logging in order to lay down the new limestone crush, which was donated by Summit Lime Works.