Our Hometown: 2019 Guide to Lamesa & Dawson County Page 7 Lamesa offers sports leagues for local youth Various youth sports programs are available here for kids to just have fun or begin developing the skills that someday will help them in high school or beyond. Lamesa’s Bill Weaver Youth Sports Complex hosts both baseball and softball games for local youth. “The people with the city do a great job keeping everything up at our park. It’s a great deal for all our parents involved, too,” Lamesa Girls Softball Presi- dent Manuel Benitez said. ON THE COURSE LPR photo Lamesa Municipal Golf Course hosts weekly scrambles along with various tournaments during the year. Cal Ripkin baseball Rick Wallace has served as Lamesa’s Cal Ripken League president the past six years. This youth baseball league is for boys between the ages of four and 12. This league averages about 250 boys playing each summer. Municipal golf course Lamesa’s Cal Ripken organization has hosted at least one district or state baseball tournament each summer for the past six years. “It’s all about the kids. We’re hoping to run the kind hosts weekly scrambles of league where our kids not only learn something about this game but also enjoy it,” Wallace said. Lamesa Municipal Golf Course currently has Dimas noted that several new trees have been “More than anything we’re hoping to provide a good right at 120 members. planted at the course. environment – a safe place for our kids to play.” Victor Dimas continues to serve as the cours su- “We’re hoping to plant a few more,” Dimas said. perintendent, a position he’s held for the past 10 1/2 One of this course’s favorite events remains its Youth softball years. weekly scrambles which are held every Manuel Benitez is back for another year as president The course demands continuous care, Lamesa Wednesday starting the fi rst week in April. of the Lamesa Girls Softball Association. and Dimas is always looking to make ad- Municipal Lamesa Municipal’s golf calendar “We want to run the kind of program where we’re ditional improvements. Golf Course includes seven tournaments starting with not only helping our girls develop their games but also “It’s been a pretty tough year for us 201 N. Ave. S the annual Golden Tornado Booster Club’s learn things like how to become better teammates,” mainly due to the drought we’ve been 872-8100 four-person fundraising golf tournament Benitez said. through which has been especially tough on April 20. “Hopefully we’re doing things on this level to help get on our greens,” Dimas said. Superintendent The course not only hosts weekend tour- them better prepared later when they get on up to high “We’ve already replaced one of our Victor Dimas naments for the public but also plays hosts school and maybe even college ball.” greens out here and we’re hoping to re- to high school tournaments for Lamesa The Lamesa girls softball league is open to girls be- place a couple more as long as our members keep on and area schools. tween the ages of four and 14. There are four diff erent cooperating. Green fees are $20 per player during the week and divisions: tee ball for four and fi ve year olds, pixie for “One of our long term goals is to replace all of $25 on the weekend. There’s a cart fee of $15 per cart. six and seven year olds, minors for eight to 10 year olds our greens mainly to keep giving our next genera- “That doesn’t matter if it’s nine or 18 holes.” Di- and majors for 11 to 14 year olds. tion of golfers a nice place to play.” mas said of cart fees. About 150 girls play in the league each year, with games beginning in April. Youth basketball The winter months mean Saturdays for local young- Disc golf played locally on sters in the Lamesa Youth Basketball League. The league has separate divisions for boys and girls between the ages of fi ve and 12 (kindergarten through city course in Forrest Park sixth grade). Each league has three age groups: pee wee for kindergarten to the second grade, minors for Disc golf remains a popular pastime among Festival. We’ve been getting over 100 golfers in that third and fourth graders and majors for fi fth and sixth a number of local residents who play on a local tournament each year,” Barron said. graders. course laid out among the trees in Lamesa’s Forrest Barron sees a growth in popularity in this sport. The league played a majority of it games this season Park. “A lot of that’s because we’ve got a great course as either Lamesa High School or the old junior high “We usually see 15 to 20 out there playing every here, mainly because of all of the diff erent obsta- gym. weekend,” said Joey Barron President of the Texas cles,” Barron said. Each team played about a dozen games this season. Tornadoes’ Disc Golf Club. “We’ve got three diff erent pin places on each hole “You can see a big diff erence in all of our kids from Three disc golf tournaments currently are being which basically means we’ve got three diff erent the fi rst of our season to the last of it. We’ve seen vast planned here this year. courses. The players like the diff erent looks.” improvement,” league President Isaiah Martinez said. “Our biggest tournament is the one we have For additional information about disc golf in “All of that progress makes all of the time we put into it during the weekend of the Chicken Fried Steak Lamesa, call Joey Barron at 201-5235. worth it.”.