Ligonier Valley School District is in the home stretch of preparing for a major upgrade to its high school baseball field.

The district wants to have the revamped field ready for batters to take their swings at a relocated home plate by spring.

The direction of the field will be turned by about 90 degrees, bringing home plate closer to the high school building, according to district business manager Eric Kocsis.

The move is meant to alleviate a slope at the site and improve drainage while limiting the amount of earth-moving involved in the project, Kocsis said.

Currently, he said, “There’s a little drop-off in right field. It’s not the best condition to play. We’ll be turning the field and making it level.”

Other updated features will include bleachers, a bathroom, the scoreboard, bullpens and indoor batting cages. The field now has just one bullpen and one outdoor batting cage.

“I’m just excited for this opportunity for our district and the community in general,” district Superintendent Tim Kantor said of the project. “So far, it’s going along as planned.”

American Legion teams also use the field.

Consultants that have assisted the district with the ballfield project include Ligonier Township-based Markosky Engineering, Ulery Architecture of Unity and 4Most Sport Group of Grove City.

Ligonier Township supervisors this week approved the project’s land development plan, provided the district obtains needed permits from the township and other agencies.

Markosky representative Shane Ritenour said approval is being sought from the Westmoreland Conservation District. The township is reviewing permit requests for stormwater management and grading of the site.

If all goes as planned, Ritenour said, the district hopes to seek bids for the project in August and begin construction in September.

”The goal is to play on this baseball field next spring,” he said. “In order to do that, it needs to be an accelerated construction schedule.

“The field is going to be sodded instead of seeded, to accelerate that growth.”

Funding for the project includes a $1.6 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and $600,000 in district dollars. Kocsis said that local match will be drawn from a portion of the district fund balance set aside for capital projects.

In another sports-related project, Kocsis said, the district is considering creation of a dedicated wrestling room near the high school weight room.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)