The T-ball diamond at Fireman’s Park in Sturtevant is now officially Sara Dresen Memorial Field, named after Sara Dresen, the teenager killed last year by a drunk driver while she was jogging along 5-1/2-Mile Road.
Trustees unanimously approved the dedication Tuesday during the regularly scheduled board meeting.
In their letter to the village asking for the dedication, Sturtevant Youth Baseball Association organizers Sean and Stephanie Waiss said, “She had an infectious smile, a love for the game and made everyone around her a better person and player. In that spirit, we know that young athletes, t-ballers, also have those same characteristics as Sara. We, at SYBA, know that Sara’s spirit will live on in the young athletes that play and grow to love the game at the t-ball field.”
Dresen was a member of the Sturtevant Starz and played catcher. Her SYBAÂ wanted to honor Dresen’s memory and her spirit by renaming the field in time for the 2016 season.
Once they received her family’s blessing, the couple brought it to committee.
“This was definitely a group effort; we thought of it immediately with the ball field moving,” Sean said. “If you knew Sara you would know her love of the game and the infectious enthusiasm she always had on the ball diamond. It was on the youth ball diamond that she seemed to have found her passion, and her memory might be an inspiration to others.”
The original T-ball field was located behind Village Hall and was moved last year to make way for a municipal Public Works building.
An official dedication is being planned. There will be a sign affixed to the backstop of the T-ball diamond designating it as Sara Dresen Memorial Field. Whether or not there will be additional signage explaining the meaning behind the name hasn’t yet been determined.