There is no doubt The Post has supported the idea of a sports complex from the beginning.

It is our belief that a well designed, well run and properly marketed facility could build a sports tourism industry in Vicksburg with the opportunity to host plenty of tournaments, welcoming thousands of visitors each year.

But, while that process continues to inch along, there are facilities already in existence that need continued development and continued maintenance.

One such facility is the softball complex at Bazinsky Field.

Now, I will readily admit that I have a personal connection to Bazinsky Field as our daughter is among the girls readying for the upcoming Vicksburg Girls Softball Association season.

Practices are beginning and games are scheduled to begin with opening day ceremonies on Monday, April 4.

While the fields are in good shape and the grounds are well managed by the city’s parks and recreation department, the facility needs some attention, specifically the so-called parking lot.

I’ll admit that growing up on a dirt road in south Alabama was fun for a kid with a truck. There’s an art to a well executed fishtail. But, I should not have to call on that experience when taking Sarah Cameron to softball practice or to an evening game.

I should not have to wonder if my shocks and suspension can survive a drive across the “parking lot,” cutting across small ravines and holes, to an open spot.

And, when leaving the “parking lot,” I shouldn’t have to hope that my tires don’t spin out on the gravel, throwing gravel onto the car behind me, as I make it up the hill and onto the road.

The “parking lot” at Bazinsky Field is an afterthought to what is a very good facility. It is a wart on the face of that facility and others in the parks and recreation department’s list of facilities. It needs work and it needs to be made a priority.

During a given softball season, hundreds of people each night turn out for games at the complex and the impression left on those who are visitors to our city should be presented with something far better than a clay pit on the side of a hill.

I believe strongly in youth sports, not just because of the impact it has on a community and economics, but to the lives of the boys and girls who are competing.

If the city is asking for the residents of Vicksburg to ultimately support a new sports complex in a vote sometime next year, let’s first continue to invest in those facilities we already have.

I will not lie to anyone and say that I know how much it would cost to put in a proper parking lot at Bazinsky Park, but I know that it would be a worthwhile investment.

In the meantime, I will continue to research 4-wheel drive vehicles to buy, for I have a softball season on the horizon and I have a softball player that needs to get to her game.