Officials at the Selma Parks and Recreation Department are trying to increase the popularity of baseball and softball in the Selma area.

The work started last year when the centerfield wall at Bloch Park was rebuilt and unveiled during the summer.

It continues now as volunteers, like Ronnie “Mac” Sherrer, are selling signs to help pay for renovations to the historic baseball field.

Lebo Jones, interim director of the Selma Parks and Recreation Department and Jamie Tellier, the city’s baseball and softball director, want to one day attract major tournaments and even some college games to the Selma area.

It’s a big goal, but it’s not as farfetched as it might sound. After all, those college games have to be played somewhere, right? Colleges are often looking for a new place to take part in a tournament or a game.

Why wouldn’t a college or minor league team want to travel to historic Selma and play baseball in one of the state’s oldest baseball parks?

The city already hosts the Dixie Majors Baseball Tournament each summer and has hosted numerous others over the last several years.

The Sportsplex hosts hundreds of softball and baseball games a year, including youth contests, and the Baseball Complex across the street is used frequently as well.

Jones has asked the Dallas County Commission to help pay for batting cages to be built at the Sportsplex, which would only help the odds of attracting additional tournaments or an exhibition college game in the future.

We hope the commission finds a way to make the batting cages happen. Even if it means only adding an additional small college or high school tournament each year, the investment would pay off in the long run.

The recreation department isn’t just trying to get renovations done though. It’s also working hard to give children that want to learn how to play the sport ways to do so.

With the help of All in Sports Outreach, the recreation department held free baseball and softball cams toward the end of 2015. At the camps, they taught basic skills and used one-on-one instruction to help players learn the game.

Both were extremely popular and are being brought back in February. The recreation department is holding another baseball camp Jan. 20 and a softball camp Jan. 27. For more information about the camps, contact 874-2140.

Jones and his staff deserve a lot of credit for looking toward the future. Hundreds of children play baseball or softball in the city leagues each year, so the sport has a bright future in Selma if it’s taught the right way.

Selma also has a plethora of baseball and softball fields and plenty to offer traveling teams, so why not try to host more tournaments here? The only way to hit a home run is to swing for the fences.