County reviewing fee waiver request for adult baseball league

Sept. 09--With adult baseball and softball seasons ending, at least one league has already been looking at one of next year's sizable opponents -- insurance fees.

North County Baseball League commissioner Mark Elisco said an insurance requirement on Beaver County athletic fields recently placed a financial burden on teams this year, prompting him to request a waiver for next year.

But Beaver County officials have suggested there's risk of liability without the waiver.

Several other leagues from Youngstown to Pittsburgh have ended due to funding issues over the years, Elisco said, and he sees the insurance requirement as an extra, unnecessary cost.

"This is my 41st year in the league, I have not seen one suit against a municipality," he said. "Not a one."

The insurance requirement is for organized teams on Beaver County athletic fields, officials said, and assistant county solicitor Andrea Cantelmi cited its value by recalling two softball players who sued the county.

In 2003, softball player Carla Gilbert was sliding in for a run and scarred and disfigured her left leg when she was injured by exposed concrete that secured home plate at Bradys Run Park, a 2004 complaint said.

Her injuries required medical help in the form of a plate and screws, and the incident also left her with a permanent limp, according to the complaint.

A jury later determined Gilbert was 49 percent at-fault and the county was 51 percent causally negligent, as the field's rut and exposed area under the plate had been there for one or two years, according to an opinion by Beaver County Judge Gus Kwidis.

The jury declared a $13,500 award for Gilbert, who was listed with an Aliquippa address.

In 2012, softball player Joshua Stickles of Hopewell Township caught his foot in a device that anchors first base at Bradys Run Park, fracturing and dislocating his right ankle and tearing a cartilage in his right knee, according to the lawsuit.

He underwent surgery and had prosthetic devices implanted in his ankle, the lawsuit said.

Stickles' lawsuit is still pending.

While Elisco said county commissioners and Recreation and Tourism Director Tim Ishman have been very helpful, the insurance is a requirement the county's insurer makes.

The county also requires organized leagues to sign an agreement that indemnifies and holds harmless the county and others from all liability, claims, damages and other costs due to injuries, even those caused by negligence.

"Their insurance company tells them to get another layer of insurance so they don't have to pay out just in case something happens," Elisco said.

North County Baseball League started in 1948 and was once known as Lawrence North County Baseball, Elisco said. Around 1995, it merged with Beaver County Recreation Baseball and started using fields in Beaver County, he said.

About 90 percent of players in the league are in college, said George Murray, a New Castle resident who added that his Summertime Heroes team had several former Major League Baseball players on its roster this season, including Matt DeSalvo of the New York Yankees, Jim Putko of the Chicago Cubs and Cedric Hawkins of the New York Mets.

Due to the insurance issue, the league almost had its season on hold, which has never happened, Murray said. A Beaver County lawyer and other sponsors covered the costs, though, he said, declining to name names.

Adding to the issue, Elisco said a July court case showed a Fayette County judge dismissed a lawsuit against a youth baseball league and township.

The case involved a girl who broke her ankle trying to slide into home plate. But Cantelmi said that case, due to its jurisdiction, is nonbinding for Beaver County, adding that the lawsuit also involved fields that were free to use.

But the county may further evaluate a judge's opinion from that lawsuit.

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