A softball league in Northeast Philadelphia that has been targeted by vandals twice in two years was dealt a third blow on Monday, when someone broke in to the shed, stole equipment and started a fire.
Jim Dagostino, the director of Penn Academy Softball, told WCAU-TV that this most recent incident was worse than the previous bouts of vandalism.
"This is beyond frustrating," Dagostino said. "They haven't done it to the level of this."
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, the fire had already been put out by the fire department.
"The door handle is off and the lock is off with the 4x4, got into the shed, threw things around tore some things up," Dagostino said, as reported by CBS News. "Smashed the Pepsi machine and then in the end, stuffed rags tank of our quad, which we use to maintain the field and lit it on fire."
Equipment used to maintain the grounds was destroyed, there was glass shattered everywhere, bases and bats were missing and an ATV worth about $1,800 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 told WCAU-TV. "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.
"It hurts as an organization," Garfield said. "It hurts the girls because, at the end of the day, they are the ones that suffer."
As investigators search for who is responsible, Dagostino and Garfield are asking the community for help to continue providing a safe place for kids to play the game.
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.
"There's good people up here, always willing to help," Garfield told WCAU-TV.
