Local High School Baseball Team Suffers $20K In Damage, Lost Gear To Vandals

RESEDA (CBSLA.com) — The Cleveland High School baseball team in Reseda is hoping they will be able to finish their season after their facility was ransacked by crooks.

The thieves allegedly accessed the field by clipping bolts on a security fence before stealing bats, gloves, and dealing thousands of dollars in damage to the facility.

Additionally, the intruders took the facility's golf cart, and rammed it into gates and buildings, causing further damage, along with the interior of the team's clubhouse.

"If you look right down in here, a lot of the kids have their (personal) stuff, and they broke all those things open, they took all the locks off," coach Scott Drootin said, pointing to the clubhouse's lockers.

The total financial blow taken after taking into account damages plus stolen property is said to be over $20,000.

"I just think it's terrible," player Joe Risdall said. "I mean, why would you want to do this to a team that works so hard, and has had great success over the past years?"

As coach Drootin suggests, most of the players on his team were able to play only because they had their own personal equipment.

The ability for these kids to play now becomes more challenging.

"They took my bag, they took my glasses, and they took my gloves," player Alex Zepeda, who now must borrow a glove from his coach, said. "The glove my itself was at least 220 bucks. The glasses were around the same price, and I got those for like Christmas, as a present from my parents, and they were brand new."

While the words "Taft High" seem to have been spray-painted above the door of the clubhouse, authorities at the moment do not believe any students from Taft High School were involved.

The team, meanwhile, is asking for help.

If anyone would like to donate to the Cleveland High School Baseball team to help get them back on their feet, the school's athletic director is accepting donations.