Vandalism and arson on New Year's Day is not the way anyone would want to start 2024. But that is what Penn Academy's Softball League discovered Monday night and now they are trying to pick up the pieces and wonder if they'll be ready for the spring season.
Jim Dagostino, the Director of Penn Academy Softball in Northeast Philadelphia told NBC10 that this is not the first time they have been hit by vandals.
Vandals have broken into the Penn Academy Softball shed three times in the last two years, according to Dagostino.
"This is beyond frustrating," Dagostino said, "They haven't done it to the level of this."
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Dagostino said he had received a phone call about a fire at the shed on New Year's Eve and by the time he arrived it had already been put out by the fire department.
There was glass shattered everywhere, bases and bats missing and the ATV they used to maintain the fields was torched.
"You know we gave everybody a safe place to come and play. The lights are always on here and for these kids just to not have a care in the world," Coach Drew Garfield said.
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"I can't imagine what the girls are thinking," Garfield added. "This is their safe place. They come here and they get to play, they get to put a smile on their face."
Philadelphia police said the fire marshal is now investigating the vandalism as arson.
"Put people's lives at risk for what?" Philadelphia City Councilmember Mike Driscoll (6th District) said. "How's that fun? I don't get it."
Dagostino and his team are figuring out how to prevent this from happening again. Officials and the community are already stepping in by planning to host a volunteer clean-up on Martin Luther King Day.
"Long road ahead and I have everything coming up in March," Dagostino said.
"There's good people up here, always willing to help," Garfield told NBC10.
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