Bleachers stolen from O.C. Little League field

Costa Mesa National Little League’s vice president said that when he started mowing an outfield lawn Wednesday, he didn’t notice the aluminum skeleton sitting just outside the right field fence.

A maintenance worker from nearby TeWinkle Middle School had to ask what the league had done with the field’s 12-foot-wide bleachers before Trent Christ realized what was wrong with the picture.

Someone managed to unbolt five rows of aluminum benches, floorboards, backrests, side railings and cross beams and make off with them without anyone noticing.

All that remained of the stand-alone seating were structural beams and one lone backrest bolted to concrete pads in the ground.

“We’re a nonprofit. Who takes bleachers from kids?” Christ’s wife, Jennifer, asked.

The league filed a police report Thursday, alleging that someone stole the metal sometime between the league’s Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday afternoon games.

“I’m just shocked and dismayed that somebody would do this to a Little League field,” league President Roger Turk said Thursday as kids 8 to 10 years old wrapped up an inning on the field behind him.

He estimated that the league spent about $4,000 for the seating.

The league plans to post a reward for information leading to an arrest, Turk said. That and fundraising for new bleachers are the next steps, he said.

“We’ll replace them,” Turk said, “And we’ll take extra measures to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

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