Midwest Sports Complex Inc

Where your typical boozey, beer league softball players, the overly serious tourney teams, that one girl you kind of know’s dad and the late 20 somethings who are learning what it’s like to be out of shape all come together. The complex is really relaxed and let you bring your dog (in our case — team mascot) and speakers to play music during the games.
To sweeten the deal they have two options for bars. So yeah.

Following is a review written by my wife, Lana (and we’re from Indy, not Temecula):
My comments are strictly relayed to the golf course. Do not go there expecting that this will be the old Crooked Creek golf course. My friend and I Played there every week before they closed in 2007. We were excited to see that they had reopened. We played there today and we’re disappointed to see that things have definitely gone downhill. The fairways are crabgrass. The rough is 6 inch thick weeds and the sand traps are nothing but weeds (No sand in sight). If this doesn’t discourage you, our cart looked like it had been thru a war. The back had white paint splashed all over it. The seat and windshield was filthy and the device that holds the bag with the strap was unattached on one side. Since there was only one other person on the course you would think they could have picked a better cart.
That was our last round at Crooked Creek!

Disgusting place. Bathrooms are awful. Fields are eh. Concession wasn’t open or had a small selection. Not impressed at all. Plus, smoking is allowed so you have some jerk standing behind home plate during a kids game smoking away.
Fields weren’t lined properly, mounds were small and portable. Due to fields not being lined properly, umpires can’t tell when a ball is foul or not. Fields are such that you will probably get hit with a foul ball.
Port a pots located around 1^st base and when wind is right, lovely sewage smell.
Plus, there is a gate fee. this is what you get for the privilege of paying.
Would not choose to play here when there are mich better options.

Played sand volleyball– the courts were nice. Didn’t get to take advantage of, but they do have food and drink specials. The full bar is clench. Didn’t like the new ordinance that music had to be shut off by 9 or 10 pm!

Great softball facilities with a great staff.

If you like…
$ 3 per person entry/​parking fees,
VFW-​like bar establishments,
gallons of beer,
ping pong tables with only one sacred ball (do not lose the ball, dear reader),
middle-​aged men who were once their football team’s captain basking in their glory days,
$ 1 jell-​o shots,
a weird bar that feels like it belongs somewhere… but not here?
then you should give Midwest Sports Complex a whirl.
The vibe and mixture of people is almost worth a visit alone. It felt like I was hanging out in the ball diamonds of my hometown — the only difference was I paid to get in and cheer on a friend (Yeah, Dylan!) with a beer in hand.

I’ll go ahead and get and get started with the things I like about Midwest Sports Complex. The fields are kept in relatively nice condition, although they do get very muddy after rains with people playing on them every night. They have pretty decent beer prices in the bar by the softball fields and let you drink in the dugout by purchasing either beer-​to-​go from the bar or through their mobile beer delivery golf cart. They have a lot of good umpires that they bring in for softball who have fun and are good at what they do, although there are always a few bad ones as well. The other bar that they have on site (the Fishbowl) is lots of fun and has good drink specials and bar food and is always full of great people. They offer lots of different league start times and have late games so you can always find a time that will fit your team’s schedule, unlike places that only play on weekends or during the day. This is the main reason why we have been back for a few years in a row.
Now, for the things that bother me. The communication between the management and the people who play in the leagues has been pretty poor, in my experience. I know it’s hard to communicate with that many people, but with as much social media that they should have at their fingertips, they don’t utilize it well at all and the website is always far from up to date. We have particularly gotten huge headaches when dealing with rain outs and trying to figure out if we are playing or not that night. Our coaches’ meeting that has been held at the beginnings of other seasons either didn’t happen or we weren’t informed about it. We got our schedule emailed to us, but online it states that a schedule isn’t available yet (we started last week). It does list the other teams in our league online, but none of them actually match up with who they have us scheduled to play according to what they sent us. Our «summer» league contains only 3 other teams and started with 1 game at the very end of June, then takes a 1 month hiatus so they can accommodate tournaments which make them more money. After our 4 week break, we start playing again at the very end of July and are then scheduled to play through most of September, which doesn’t fit my idea of summer very well. This wouldn’t be bad if it was set in stone ahead of time, but as I write this, our start date on the website is still listed as «tentative», so it’s pretty hard to plan for. As far as cost, the league costs $ 540 per team to enter, which consists of 10 people, and isn’t far off from other places. This doesn’t seem too bad, until you factor in the extra $ 300 that it takes for them to let your team actually walk onto the property to play in the league that you already paid them to play in. That’s $ 3 per person at the gate regardless of if you carpool, ride a bike, or walk. So just keep in mind when you sign up that it is actually $ 840 per team, which they don’t make very clear during registration.
As far as the leagues go, we are in a coed recreational league, as opposed to their all male league and competitive league. We picked this hoping there was large emphasis on the recreational aspect of it. This has not been our experience so far. I have seen sports places before that don’t let people who play in competitive leagues play in the recreational leagues. This is not the case here, and it is very common to play teams, or large portion of teams, who might be playing 2 or 3 games that night including in the competitive league, and are pretty much using you as batting practice. This does not make it fun at all if you were just hoping to go out play a recreational game of softball. It’s not even terrible to get killed every night, but they strongly enforce a run rule, so if you play for 20 minutes and get run ruled in 3 innings, the ump calls the game, goes and sits somewhere for the next 40 minutes waiting for their next game to start, and we end up paying a bunch of money to play for 20 minutes that night. This doesn’t seem right for a recreational league. We obviously aren’t playing for a trophy or money or anything, and signed up solely to have fun and play. We should be able to get beat 100 – 0 and still get the time hitting and fielding that we paid for.
We have looked around for other leagues, but can’t find any that both have the flexibility for finding a league that plays on pretty much any night of the week, and allows us to drink a lot while we are playing. Luckily, we have a great group of people on our team that can make the best of any situation and have fun even if they are calling our games after 3 innings and we are playing against people who play recreational adult softball like they are trying to win game 7 of the World Series. Overall, I think that this place caters to the athletes who play mostly to be competitive and have more fun winning than playing the game. If you don’t fit into this category, you might want to look somewhere else if other options are available to you.

Some of the best sand volleyball in Indianapolis!
Courts are kept in very good conditions — great for leagues and weekend tournaments.

This is the worst softball experience I’ve had in Indianapolis. They charge $ 3 per person to get in… but when I called, they said they only charged $ 3 per car. I’m not actually that mad that they charged, but they should at least be clear about it. The fields are poor, the umpires late. We had to forfeit a game because they wouldn’t call a game… but, I shit you not, you could have swum in centerfield. The next week, we all showed up, and it rained half as hard. The game, of course, was cancelled (and no refund). I’d avoid this place if at all possible.

I can’t help but LAUGH at the previous reviews complaining about the $ 3.00 entrance fee. If you cannot afford the $ 3.00 fee you should not play at Midwest (it’s too pricey for you). Also, why is there a sense of entitlement that you should be allowed to park at the church next door? That parking lot is for the church, not Midwest.
The fields are well maintained, the leagues are well organized, and the umpires are punctual.
If you can find the courage and strength to overcome the ALL-​MIGHTY $ 3.00 entrace fee, then this is the best place to play softball in Indy.

In the words of Obi-​Wan Kenobi, «You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.»
In addition to league fees, you will be forced– yes, forced– to pay three dollars every time you enter Midwest Sports Complex. At first I thought that this was a parking fee, so I decided to park at the neighboring elementary school and walk. When I returned to my vehicle a police officer accosted me, «Sir! The proper way to enter the sports complex is through that gate!» He pointed as if I didn’t know where the fucking gate was. «Proceed there to pay your admission fee.» Apparently, failure to pay the admission fee is a jailable offense. Otherwise, I’m not sure how to explain the presence of an on duty IMPD officer corralling patrons.
Sometime between the above incident and my next softball game, an individual– with I assume an equal disdain for the admission fee– took it upon himself to consume copious amounts of alcohol at the Complex’s own Fishbowl Pub and careen his vehicle into the booth at the gate during the wee hours. A brave and noble soul I am sure.- It seems strange that the IMPD would so boldly uphold the admission fee policy for an establishment that allows patrons to become so intoxicated that they cannot escape the parking lot without destroying something.
While the booth was being repaired I had to pay my admission fees at the main office. The first time I stepped into the belly of the beast I found a man in a tie with his sleeves rolled up sitting behind a desk. This man was discussing his weekend plans with an umpire wearing sunglasses that was leaning against the wall. Politely, I stood in front of the desk waiting for them to finish their conversation and acknowledge my existence. When it became apparent that they had no intention of helping me I interrupted their idle prattling. The man with the tie helped me reluctantly. I wanted to beat him with my baseball bat.
Customer service and harassment aside, the fields were generally sloppy and the umpires late. I hope that one day the earth opens up and swallows this abysmal hell-​hole.

It’s pricey, but the pricing is competitive with Bluff Road (ISP) and other facilities. The cons: games start late often because of kids tourneys on weekend afternoons, scoreboards take forever to get fixed, some umps start the time before the coin flip which can screw you out of time, and the fields drain very very poorly. Overall it’s a decent place tho. They offer a ton of sports, so if you paid $ 3 to get in, you can play basketball or volleyball and go to the bar and all that. I know the $ 3 entrance fee blows but they do that everywhere. If you feel that’s a deal breaker, I suggest you have your agent negotiate that in your next Nike contract.

Big old Hell NO!
They charge $ 3 per person every time. Don’t even think about parking in the school lot next door and walking in b/​c they will call the police. Not just school security, actual Indianapolis police officers. My company put together a softball league, $ 25 per person for a 10 week season. Failed to mention that I would also be paying another $ 30 to play. If they would have said the fee is $ 55 I wouldn’t have felt like they were being sneaky charging me every time I show up. We had a game where our umpire was about 30 mins late and we only have the field for 1 hour. We had a game scheduled on Monday, Memorial Day. We showed up b/​c our team captain was called and told the other team would be there and we would have a game. Truth be told, the other team just didn’t call to say they weren’t coming. So we were out $ 3, gas money, and it wasted our time. This is my first experience with this facility and I feel ripped off.

Great fields, lots of stuff to do, but can’t stand that they charge $ 3 to enter. I live across the street and they still charge me if I walk over. What a sham. Plus they never turn their lights off. I find it hard to believe it takes all night into the morning to prepare a field for games on the weekend. Turn the damn lights off so you don’t have to charge $ 3 to pay your light bill.