Cheer NE Seattle Little Leaguers At Park Through Next Week And Suspected Arsonists Set Fire To Baseball Storage Unit On 4th



 

Northeast Seattle Little League ( NESLL)  is hosting the District All Star Tournament for 10 and 11 year olds at Laurelhurst Park through July 14. 

Neighbors are welcome to come out and cheer on our neighborhood boys as they take on teams from around the Seattle area" Jennifer, one of the NESL representatives, told the Laurelhurst Blog.

The full Tournament schedule is here and updates are available on the NESL Team Facebook and Twitter sites. 

Jennifer added that the "NESLL team lost their game on Saturday, but staged a remarkable come-from-behind victory Monday night to move on in the tournament.  Their next game is 6pm on Thursday."

Unfortunately, the storage bin containing all of the tournament support equipment appeared to have been deliberately set on fire on July 4th just after midnight.  

"Many thousands of dollars worth of equipment was burned.  It is suspected arson and the police and fire department is involved.  Thanks to a bunch of very dedicated volunteers, we were able to resupply quickly and the tournament has gone on without a hitch," Jennifer said.

The NESL Facebook page says:

4th July of Fire at Laurelhurst Park: The storage POD being used to house NESLL and District 8 equipment and supplies for the 10-11 Baseball Tournament was destroyed by fire early Sunday morning. Initial reports indicate that the fire was intentionally set and criminal investigations are underway. Anybody with information regarding this incident, please contact the Seattle Fire Department or Seattle Police. 

On a positive note, ALL games were played yesterday without any disruption thanks to a truly phenomenal effort by the NESLL volunteer core! It was like Christmas day in Whoville -- not even the Grinch could dampen the community's spirit and enthusiasm or stop the baseball games from being played with the all of the flare and hospitality that distinguish NESLL events.

A neighbor said that trees above and around the storage pod has burned branches and that the storage container was most likely "targeted with fireworks by kids on the night of the 4th.  

The Laurelhurst Community Club (LCC) said: " It's disheartening that kids would behave so irresponsibly at our neighborhood park."

NESL asks that if anyone has information about the fire to immediately contact the Seattle Police Department or NESL via Rob Weber weber@carneylaw.com.