This week the Bridge City School Board met and approved a plan to renovate both the baseball at softball fields located at the high school.
“We’re hoping to start demo right after the July 4 holiday,” said Superintendent Todd Lintzen. “Weather willing the plan is to have them ready by December 1.”
Both fields will have field turf infields and the outfields will remain grass. It will also include an underground drainage system. Both will also receive new scoreboards, bleachers, and dugouts. There will be a new concession stand and the restrooms will also be ADA compliant. Sports Field Solutions, based in Texas, is handling the project.
The softball field will also push their outfield fence back to the popular 200′ mark. Most softball fields use that distance. BC’s current field is 185 feet. The girls batting cages will also get a face lift. New LED lights will be installed and the chain link behind home plate will be replaced with netting, similar to what baseball has now and will keep.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to play on a new field at Bridge City,” said Coach Kayla Gallardo. “And we appreciate the school board committing to this project.”
The baseball field will also be renamed Chuck Young Field. Young was the longtime baseball coach at BC who passed away in November at age 76.
For many years there was a group of former players and coaches that tried to get the stadium renamed for Young, but the school board wasn’t willing to change their policy about naming a facility after a living person.
After Young passed the proposal was revisited, and the board approved the renaming at Monday’s meeting.
Assistant baseball coach Chris Moore, who played for Young, was instrumental in the name change. “I spoke to the board and let them know the impact Coach Young had on me, both on and off the field, and my decision to become an educator,” he said.
“I’m so glad it’s done but wish he had been around to see it. His family told me for years it was something he never thought of but would’ve been honored to have the field where he spent so much time, named after him.”
Lintzen said that digging the baseball field up could be interesting. “We’ve heard rumors that Coach Young may have buried some things around the field. We’ll be looking out for anything unusual like a time capsule or something.”
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