Field of dreams

      By any ballplayer's standards, the softball field at the North Bellmore BOCES school is downright awful. Its grass is mottled, with dirt patches here and there. The baselines and pitcher's mound have disappeared after years of neglect. There is no dugout, either, not even a bench. One wouldn't even know there is a playing field at the site if not for the chain-link backstop.
      No one would want to play there, one might assume. No one, that is, except the Men's 40 and Over Softball League, a group of 200 mostly Bellmore-Merrick and Oceanside residents. For them, Jerusalem Avenue is their field of dreams.
      The league took a proposal to refurbish the field and add $50,000 worth of lights there to the Bellmore-Merrick Central Board of Education on May 2. The league needs the board's OK to move ahead with plans to restore the field because the Central High School District owns the school, which is rented to the Boards of Cooperative Educational Services.
      Keith Pastuch of Merrick, a chiropractor and league founder/president, said a lighted field would benefit not only the 10-team league, but Bellmore-Merrick sports teams as well. "We're spending extra money to make the field playable for soccer, lacrosse and, of course, softball, girls and adults."
      When the field is not used by the Men's 40 and Over league, Bellmore-Merrick athletic teams could play there, said Pastuch, who is in his mid-40s. "I want to emphasize that, yeah, we want this field, but more importantly, we will be spending more money to get these lights on to benefit our children."
      The Bellmore-Merrick district has no lighted fields now. Such a field would allow Central teams to play in the evening, enabling working parents to watch more games, Pastuch said in an interview after the board meeting. "Parents who cannot get to 4 p.m. lacrosse games can watch night games," he said.
      Larry Prosky, an outgoing Bellmore Board of Education trustee and Over 40 member, said the league now plays at a lighted school field in Oceanside. That field needs electrical rewiring. The Oceanside School District would be happy to have the league rewire it. However, Prosky said, the league wanted to find a Bellmore-Merrick field to play on because so many residents are Over 40 members. Estimates are that more than 60 percent of members live in Bellmore-Merrick.
      "It just bothered us to put this kind of money into someone else's backyard," Prosky told the Central board.
      Board trustees questioned the proposal.
      Alysse Middendorf wondered whether the league was seeking exclusive use of the field during the summer. Yes, was the answer. Pastuch and Prosky noted, though, that they only want use of the field at night. They are not looking to usurp it from children who might now play there during the day. They would play weekdays throughout the summer, ending games by 10:30 p.m., they said.
      Trustee Charles Reinhardt of North Bellmore said that other sports organizations would want use of the field once lighted. Then, the exclusivity question would get sticky, because the Jerusalem Avenue field is public.
      Trustee Norbert Billig said teenagers might hang out at games and cause a nuisance. Cheryl Pastuch, Keith Pastuch's wife and ardent supporter of the Calhoun Sports Boosters, said in response: "Honestly, there are no teenagers at their games."
      Reinhardt also said that the lights might bother neighbors of the school. "These people living in that area will be faced with the possibility of lights to 10, 10:30" at night, he said.
      According to Pastuch and Prosky, the Jerusalem Avenue site was selected because it has residential neighbors only to the west. To the north lies the Southern State Parkway and to the south and east, a business district. A track and small patch of woods separate the softball field from residents.
      The two league representatives added that other school districts have lighted fields, so Bellmore-Merrick would not be alone. Saul Lerner, the Central athletic director, confirmed that, saying Wantagh and Farmingdale now have lighted fields.
      Dr. Thomas Caramore, Bellmore-Merrick superintendent, said that, if lighted, "I see a use [for the field] at other times [than the summer], possibly the fall, possibly the spring."
      Pastuch, who as a chiropractor specializes in treating sports injuries, said he started the Over 40 league because he found so many men his age getting injured while playing with younger athletes. "Most of my weekend warriors were getting hurt because they were playing with kids half their age and were not able to keep up," he said. "I wanted to start a league that would be conducive to guys in their 40s and 50s."
      The Bellmore-Merrick Board of Education is to take up the matter again at its June 6 meeting. Meanwhile, the league will continue to play in Oceanside.