The Berkshire Local School District is in the final stages of completing it transition to the Kent State University Geauga Campus. The Kent State University Board of Trustees unanimously approved the BSLD’s plans to build new baseball and softball fields on the campus on Sep. 20.
“It really completes our project and brings us full circle, having all of our educational and extracurricular initiatives right here on the same campus,” Superintendent John Stoddard told The Weekly Villager. “Baseball and softball are our last two outdoor sports that needed to come to this campus and now we have the space to get that done.”
Kent State University is giving Berkshire seven-and-a-half acres of land to build the softball and baseball fields, which will be built next to each other on KSU’s Geauga Campus. Both fields will be close to the existing solar panel fields, but Stoddard said netting will be provided to offer protection.
Both teams will continue playing home games on the fields located at the former Berkshire Elementary School, now known as Abundant Life Ministry Center, at the beginning of the 2024 spring season, but the softball team hopes to play a few home games on the new field before the end of the year.
Stoddard acknowledged that the baseball team will still play all home games on their current field next spring and will not have access to their new field until the 2025 season.
“I think it will be very exciting,” he said. “It will be the first time they have not had to travel to get to their practice and game fields because even when we were in the old high school, they were traveling to Burton elementary to play their games so now they will have a home right on campus like the other sports do.”
Since moving to the KSU Geauga Campus in 2022, Berkshire has continued its efforts to build state of the art equipment to move all athletic programs to the new campus.
In the middle of last year’s fall season, Berkshire debuted Great Lakes Cheese Stadium on a three-and-a-half-acre property, giving the football and soccer teams a new home turf behind the new school building.
Stoddard praised how accommodating Kent State University has been since partnering with the BSLD.
“Kent State University has been an excellent partner, not only with the property but also with the other opportunities they have provided for our students,” he added. “They can essentially walk across the parking lot and have access to just about any college course that they want to, and it also has allowed us to bring more of the college courses in-house.”
According to Stoddard, the BSLD is still in the process of raising funds and securing bids from construction companies. Funding for the construction of the baseball and softball fields will be raised through private fundraising.
Stoddard said Berkshire’s Athletic Department, Educational Foundation and the athletic boosters are partnering to host fundraisers that will raise the necessary proceeds needed to build Berkshire’s new fields.
“They’ve been doing a great job,” he added. “They have been out talking to lots of people and have been holding lots of events and they have really worked really hard to get us to the point where we are, and we can now see the finish line in the distance.”
In addition to the new fields, Stoddard indicated there are also plans to turf the infield when the fields are built, giving both teams chances to play home games at the beginning of the season despite the poor weather conditions at the beginning of the spring season.
“We need to secure some bids and there are some public bidding sites we can go to find companies that already have already low-bid projects through the State,” he said. “There is some earthwork excavation that has to happen, there is some seeding for the grass areas and then obviously if turf is going down, you have to have a turf company to be able to do that so we will look to get some competitive bids in those areas.”
Stoddard also revealed plans to install a drainage system in the outfield grass but is hopeful that in the future both fields will be completely turfed.
When both fields are completed, Stoddard said it will not be only the baseball and softball teams that will benefit.
“Our physical education classes can go take advantage of utilizing those fields in the offseason and in the fall,” he added. “We could potentially have junior high soccer or junior high football practices on those fields as well. They just become another area for us to expand and get kids outdoors.”
