Sid DeBarathy seemed tired as he stood on the sidewalk outside the Butte School District Administration Building Monday morning.

Along with my cousin, Mike Foley, Sid had just presented in front of a committee of school board members about a complaint the two filed because they do not think the female athletes at Butte High are getting a fair shake. It has been a battle that Sid and Mike have been waging for more than two decades now, and they have been vilified for their efforts for the girls.

“It’s been a lonely fight,” Sid said as he talked about the issue and the years and years of battling, mainly over the subpar softball fields at Stodden Park.

That might be the saddest part of this whole sad deal. Sid and Mike have been the only ones doing the fighting, and their daughters are decades removed from playing softball.

They are fighting for your daughters, and this should be a fight that is joined by hundreds, if not thousands.

Some people in the school district and in the Butte-Silver Bow County government seem to think this is not a big issue. They think the girls are treated just fine.

Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher, somehow with a straight face, has repeatedly called Stodden Park the best softball facility in the state. He does not see any problem with our girls playing on fields that make the complex in Anaconda look like Dodger Stadium.

Anaconda’s fields were built for fast-pitch softball. Ours were not.

Collectively, the reality deniers in the school district and county are fine with the boys having a baseball facility at Copper Mountain Park that is light years ahead of the one the girls use about a mile away.

In doing so, they are playing with fire. Instead of vilifying the two men who brought the issue to their attention, they should be thanking them.

If this issue goes beyond the district, the district is going to lose, and it is going to lose big. The district is fighting a battle it cannot possibly win. The girls have the law and precedent on their side. The school district does not.

In July of 1990, the district announced that it would add softball for the 1991 season. That came after the Montana High School Association told Butte High officials that its sports programs favored boys over girls.

In 1990, only Butte High and Flathead High in Kalispell did not have girls’ fast-pitch softball.

Butte High officials responded, and they said the girls would play on fields just south of the school. Bill Brown, who was then the school’s activities director, told The Montana Standard that the fields were already “being built.”

“Thirty-four years later, they are still not there,” DeBarathy told the school board members Monday. “That is now a boys’ football practice field.”

Mike put together a football analogy to describe the inequity between the boys and girls. When the district and county poured money into the fields in 2013, Mike said that qualified as a “touchdown” for the girls.

That TD brought score to 262-7 in favor of the boys, Mike said.

Over the decades, the school built Naranche Stadium for the boys. Then it built the football stadium at East Middle School. Then it built Naranche Stadium again, and again for the boys.

The district also built a wrestling room for the boys.

Also, a few years ago, the county built the $2.5 million 3 Legends Stadium, thanks to some help form the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation and NorthWestern Energy, among others. Two years ago, that stadium also became the home of the Butte High boys’ baseball team.

Mike pointed out that the district has never built a facility specifically for the girls.

This fight being waged by Sid and Mike is not about taking away from the boys, as some want to paint it. They praise the district for letting the boys play in 3 Legends Stadium — instead of the Senior Little League Field that sits 100 or so yards away at the same park.

Some districts around the state are putting their boys on subpar baseball fields to try to protect themselves from Title IX complaints.

“They could have put them on a lower-level field that is still better than Stodden,” Mike said, referring to putting the boys on Field 4 at Copper Mountain Park. “They put them in the best, and they should have. This is Butte, Montana; we should have the best.”

But 3 Legends Stadium is still a major score for the boys

Yes, money was put into Stodden as a promise to settle a Title IX complaint in 2013. But should that even count if the county completely botched the job?

No, of course it should not.

The infields at Stodden today more resemble a sand trap or a long jump pit than they do a softball field. They are a civic embarrassment.

Some players filled out questionnaires about the fields in 2013. Here are some of the things they wrote about the fields:

“Too soft.”

“Not a real field.”

“Worst field I have ever played on.”

Sorry, but the district should not get partial credit for doing the job so very wrong. You do not get points for bombing a test. So, the score should still be 262-0.

When you compare the dugouts, seating and batting cages, the difference just grows in favor of the boys. When you factor in safety, it is game over.

In 2019, an adult softball player split his head open when he hit a bolt in the fence when diving to try to catch a foul ball. Instead of paying his medical bills like the player asked, the county fought like hell to avoid giving him a dime.

They blamed the player and even, get this, the umpire for the injuries, all while acknowledging in depositions that the county did not — and still does not — have safety standards in place.

“It didn’t go well for (the player),” Mike said. “It’s not going to go well for any girl (who gets hurt). The city fought this tooth-and-nail, and it went to a jury trial, which is ridiculous. (The player) was hurt more by the court case than the injury.”

Mike pointed out that he was not taking any shots at the hard-working men who take care of those fields.

“They work their rear ends off,” he said. “They do the very best they can. They have no manual, and the people who should be following the manual aren’t.

“That bolt (that injured the player) would be hard to see,” Mike said. “But the damage to the backstops is there for everyone to see. Sid and I have been taking pictures since 2011. The same damage is still there.”

The school board members present — Henry Klobucar, Tom Billteen and Mike Kujawa — seemed receptive to Sid and Mike’s presentation, which was limited to 40 minutes. Hopefully, Superintendent Judy Jonart, who rejected the complaint filed by Mike and Sid in October, and the rest of the board will also be open minded when the issue goes before the full board later this month or next month.

The board meets at the East Middle School Library at 5 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. Billteen, who chaired the meeting, said he was not sure which month it would be on the agenda.

When it is, we all need to speak up for the girls. This is the 35th year that our softball teams have had to play on subpar fields, and that is enough.

If you have a daughter who plays, step up and speak at the meeting. If you played or coached for the Bulldogs, stand up so maybe the young girls will have it better. If you do not have a Bulldog in the fight, but you believe in fairness, then the board should hear from you, too.

Tell the district that what Sid and Mike are saying about the fields is true. Demand that the district follow through with the promise that it made to the girls in 1990.

Together, let’s show Sid and Mike that their fight is not really a lonely one.

— Bill Foley, who is also too soft, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.