$14k in softball equipment stolen from girls league

Thieves busted into a Union City girl’s softball league equipment shed last week and made off with $14,000 of softball equipment.

Crooks ransacked the league’s equipment shed at Contempo Park in Union City last Thursday, stealing everything from bats to balls and bases. Only two of the 16 equipment bags were left in the shed.

Softball coach Jimmy Perez said:

“They don’t realize what they’re doing to the city and these little girls who expect to play softball in the coming weeks.”

Although the Union City Girls Softball Association has players bring their own gloves, the league supplies the rest of the equipment for the teams. The association is a nonprofit fastpitch softball league for girls ages 4 to 14.

Nine-year-old twins Ciera and Trinity are part of the Union City Girls Softball Association and were unsure how they would play without enough equipment. Ciera said:

“It was most upsetting they busted the door open and took all of our equipment. Now we can’t play. We don’t have much equipment this year.”

Some of the stolen items included used bats donated from softball teams in Newark and Alameda, along with several hundred dollars pledged from as far as Chicago and Virginia.

Softball coach Andrea Hernandez said the theft may delay the team’s practice start date and could even affect the start of softball season in March.

While police are still trying to find the suspects, group members are asking for donations to help replace the stolen equipment. Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible donation can call Tony Gonsalez at 510-258-9550 or league President Joe Kan Hai at 510-706-4564.