EQUIPMENT HEIST

Timing may have saved the neck of whoever stole nearly $5,000 in baseball equipment from the North Long Beach Pony Baseball League.

Kelly Gorley, president of the league for kids between the ages 5 and 14, says her little sluggers verged on violence when they learned that someone had swiped their new mitts, bats and baseballs one recent Saturday morning while coaches handed out the new uniforms at a park nearby.

“Some of the younger kids said they’d like to string [the thieves] up on the baseball diamond and take their bats to them,” Gorley said.

The equipment would have replaced the aging equipment that players ended up using last weekend during the season openers. The supplies had been locked up in a shed behind the home of one league coach.

Still, things may be looking up for the players, many of them children of poor families. Gorley said donated cash and equipment, including balls and catching gear, are replacing some of the stolen supplies.