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COAL GROVE, Ohio (WSAZ) - An embezzlement accusation at a the Coal Grove Little League put the season in doubt. The Coal Grove community wouldn’t let their kids stay on the sidelines, though, and the season started off strong back in April.

The unmatched determination seen within the community to make sure their kids could play ball makes them WSAZ’s latest Hometown Heroes.

The Ohio Bureau Criminal Investigations Unit said they’re investigating allegations after a member of the previous administration was accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from the league.

The community came together to overcome these missing funds.

Brandon Bazell, a board member, said “the community here has always been behind our kids. It’s a great community to live in, no matter whether it’s kindergarten all the way up to high school. We always come out, we support our kids and make sure everything you know goes well for them and give ‘em what they deserve.”

Parents and coaches, like Nick Howard ,are just happy to see kids running the bases.

“It’s so exciting, you know. It’s nice to be back. You know, these girls wait all year to play Little League ball,” Howard said. “It’s nice, as a village, for everyone to kinda come together. Local businesses, sponsorships, coming together and you know, make this happen for these girls.”

Sponsors like Duane Deeds said “I’ve worked with Little League for a long time, and we find out they’re having trouble. We decided to pitch in and try to help things out because it’s a really good program for the youth of our community.”

Deeds also said “kids needs things to do. They need to have activity, they need to get outside, they need to make friends, they need to learn life lessons and sports are a good way to learn those things and the community has always had this and we couldn’t stand to see it go down the tubes.”

The hard work and dedication the community has shown to their kids makes them all hometown heroes.

We reached back out to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations and said the investigation remains active and ongoing, and they can’t release anymore details at this time.