South of the Tracks Youth Softball League is celebrating 35 years of serving the community, and the families who have been part of the league since the beginning gathered to mark the milestone.
The league was formed to provide at-risk children of southeast Bakersfield a safe and productive environment. It started with 4 teams and has since grown to about 250 kids across 16 teams. The league's home field is East Belle Terrace Park West.
Sabrina Ingram was 5 years old when the league started and has been connected to it ever since.
"I had my uncle and my Nino as my coaches, my first year, so it was just a lot of fun, a lot of new friends," Ingram said.
Ingram is now one of the league's coaches, and all 3 of her children have played in the league.
"One of them is 20. I have a 17 year old, and an 11 year old, and they've all played here since they were five years old. As soon as they were able to play, I was coaching them up," Ingram said.
She said the league has given her friendships that have lasted a lifetime.
"I feel like this is where I met a lot of my friends, lifetime friends, a lot of us known each other since we were, you know, five years old," Ingram said.
Rachel Esquivel has been with the league since it started. She reflected on how far it has come.
"Now we have 16. And it's been amazing. At first, we didn't hardly have anybody here. The parents didn't show up, and little by little, parking lot school now," Esquivel said.
Carlos Estrada, one of the founding members of the league, said watching players grow into coaches has been one of the most rewarding parts of the journey.
"Kids are very competitive. They have fun. And it's neat to see a lot of the first year coaches first year players become coaches," Estrada said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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