Nowata High School Baseball Field Target Of Vandals Again

A teen is behind bars after vandalizing the Nowata High School baseball fields. It took police about two days to catch the criminal.

This is the second time in the last two years that the fields have been a target for vandals.

The Nowata High School baseball field appears to be in tip-top shape. But on Monday morning that wasn't the case.

"They had some notes written on here saying 'don't mess with our field," said Fred Bailey, Nowata superintendent.

Crooks broke into the Dodge Sports Complex sometime over the weekend, leaving some major damage. They turned on all of the water faucets, flooding out both the baseball and softball fields.

"We don't know whether it was Saturday night, Sunday night, during the day Sunday so it could have run for 36 to 48 hours," Bailey said.

And that's not all. They smashed an electrical box, breaking all of the wires inside.

"They got into some boxes of screws and putty and they threw those all over the ground and splattered the putty on parts of our concession stand," Bailey said.

The superintendent says police took a ball of putty that had finger prints in it to help identify the suspect. According to police, a juvenile was arrested on Tuesday.

Bailey says this isn't the first time vandals have made this $350,000 dollar field their target.

"We had some damage here last summer where they had come out here and cut some water hoses," Bailey said. "Just playing around, I guess, they think it's no big deal, but it cost the school quite a few dollars just to get it fixed."

Between the water bill and repairs, the district is estimating they'll spend about three to four thousand dollars.

Today, most of the mess is cleaned up. But they're waiting on Mother Nature to dry up the wet spots on the field. Until then, the home opener will have to be postponed.

"It's very disappointing for not only the ball players, but the coaches and the entire school cause we have a pretty good crowd that comes out and watches so it was a disappointment," Bailey said.

The original home season opener was supposed to be on Monday. Since then, they have had to switch all their home games to away.

They plan to officially have their home season opener on Tuesday against Barnsdall.