Copper Thieves Stop Tulsa Girls' Softball Tournament

The City of Tulsa is trying to fix the damaged caused after thieves stole the fun for some softball players.

Police said they ripped out the copper in the lights at a Tulsa ballpark which forced organizers to cancel a weekend tournament.

At Savage Park in the 17800 block of East 21st Street, 56 teams were supposed to play fast-pitch softball this weekend, but now, that's not going to happen.

The city estimates the thieves caused $5,000 in damages - in hopes of making some money - by prying into a circuit box and taking the wire.

Lynn Arnold, with the Tulsa Girls Softball Federation, is supposed to be getting ready for the softball tournament at Tulsa’s Savage Park. Instead, she's tallying up the damages to the park's field lighting.

"There's your copper, that's what they're after...and this is what they take," she said.

At least five fields and two buildings are in the dark because thieves got into the poles and took the wiring. Then, they took it a step further and broke into the breaker panel and ripped the wires out of there, too.

Arnold said teams from all around the area were supposed to play 187 games at the complex.

"They had to scramble to find a place to play, they had to cancel their hotel rooms, they had to make last minute changes, they were set up to come here," she said.

11/3/2015 Related Story: Thieves Steal Copper From Tulsa Park 

The city is already trying to repair damage from thieves stealing copper in highway lights. Now they have to fix the damage at Savage Park as well as the tennis court lighting at Maxwell Park and parking lot lighting at Patrick Park and Carl Smith Park across from Savage Park.

Tulsa Police Officer, Leland Ashley said, they need help catching the copper thieves.

"A lot of times, individuals will see something and they'll say ‘well, I'm not going to bother police, it's probably not that big of a deal.’" Man, just give us a call, let us get there and find them. Maybe someone's car is broken down and they're waiting on a ride or waiting on a tow truck, but maybe they're not, maybe they're actually stealing copper out of a light pole. So, we want you to give us that call," Ashley said.

Arnold said, "I don't think they think about the fact that there's 56 teams of girls that aren't playing softball this weekend. There's people who work who can't work this weekend because we're not playing softball."

Repairs are already underway at some of the parks, but the city said it doesn’t know when the lights at Savage Park will be fixed.