Bleachers stolen from youth athletic baseball field

LAKE RONKONKOMA, N.Y.

Someone stole the bleachers and now officials are trying to get them replaced before baseball season starts.

"Bleachers right over here, you can see the hardware over there," said Mark Zellman, of the Sachem Youth Advisory Group.

All that's left is the evidence, the blank spaces where seven bleachers once sat at the youth athletic field in Lake Ronkonkoma.

The 300 pounds each bleacher weighs apparently didn't stop someone from stealing them over the weekend.

The assistant commissioner for the Sachem Youth Advisory Group now has a big worry.

"What are we going to do about opening day? That's what I was worried about. I know they're expensive," Zellman said.

They cost $10,000.

Not to mention the disappointment for the 1,700 kids and their families who go there.

"You know, it's just not right parents grandparents come to watch children play, where are they going to sit?" Zellman said.

There is some good news here.

Ray Navarette, the owner of Cage 16 in Bay Shore and the second baseman for the Long Island Ducks, is helping out.

"I would never understand why anybody would want to vandalize or steal things from kids," Navarette said.

Navarette and his friend Jason Merz, the owner of a local landscape design company, are paying to have five new bleachers installed.

"I have a 10-month-old son, I've always dreamed of being the little league dad and being the coach and standing there with my son, it struck something inside me," said Jason Merz, of Metamorphosis Landscape Design.

"It shows there are some real nice people in this world. Thank you," Zellman said.

Nice people to make up for the not so nice.

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