Is the new baseball and softball field going to be completed by the end of this school year? According to principal Jason  Naucke, the field will be ready for the 2019 baseball season, which begins in early March.

It should be worth the wait. The $1.5 million complex will consist of an all-turf field, batting cages, bullpen pitching mounds, stands with a press box/sound system, concession stand and restrooms.

Senior Justin Van Etten said he is very excited to use the new field this baseball season. The team previously had to play off campus at the American Legion Post 283 field. 

Van Etten said, “We would be able to get a lot more done if we had the field. It’s my senior year and having a brand new turf field would be awesome.”

The construction of the new field was originally slated to be completed during the 2018 softball season in the fall, but due to electrical problems and other issues,  the construction was postponed.

Naucke said, “In left field there was an overhead electrical line, so they had to reroute it underground; it controls the nearby neighborhoods with power.”

If you see a new green electrical box by the ramp, you will now know it is for the nearby neighborhoods.

Currently, the layout of the field is almost complete. The turf field itself might be completed by January 1. 

Naucke said,“They put something into the soil to make the ground flat and solid like concrete, then they have been driving heavy equipment on the field and that field is not moving.”

If the new fields are not done before baseball season, Van Etten would be very upset.

Van Etten said, “If it didn’t get done, I would be pretty mad to be honest…Hopefully they get it done by the end of February.”