Brett Boezeman, director of operations for Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., looks on as contractors work on improving and renovating the athletics areas for baseball, softball and football at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, June 23, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
There will be a new look to the Columbus East athletics facilities.
When fans enter the baseball, softball and football complexes, they will notice a major change. It is all part of a multi-million dollar project by the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. to make upgrades to the facilities by the start of the upcoming season.
The biggest part of the renovations will include a new softball field that will be fully turf, the baseball diamond with infield turf and a redesigned football press box and new bleachers on the visiting side of Stafford Field.
Also, there will be a new concession stand, bleachers, restroom facilities, locker rooms, dugouts, press boxes and a concrete walking plaza for both the baseball and softball fields.
Construction for the renovations began when the 2022-23 school year ended.
One of the biggest advantages of having a turf field is that it can be played on, rain or shine, which creates less headaches for athletics directors scrambling to reschedule games and checking umpire availability.
The Olympians softball team will have a new field next year. They won’t play on their field next to Marr Road, but will play southeast of the baseball diamond and behind the football field. The reason for the relocation was mainly because it would be too difficult to put lights and make other improvements such as the addition of bleacher seating and a press box on their old diamond, given its proximity to the road.
The Columbus Parks and Recreation and BCSC have maintained a great relationship while sharing many of the fields at Clifty Park. BCSC Director of Operations Brett Boezeman mentioned they reached out to the Parks and Rec about relocating the softball field built with full turf on top of one of the recreational fields. Boezeman said the Parks Department was “excited” about the idea. Boezeman said that it will be a shared-use agreement.
“There aren’t a lot of cities around that share space between the schools and the parks, so that’s a big benefit,” Boezeman said.
The baseball field will be getting only an infield turf due to it being the same cost as the entire softball field. Boezeman mentioned it would have cost an extra $600,000-to-$700,000 if they opted to turf the outfield, as well. The new baseball dugout will be at grade-level. For the baseball and softball fields, there won’t be a fence at the backstop, but a masonary backstop wall and a netting that will stretch down the infield lines instead.
The bleachers by left field in the baseball complex have been removed and and will be replaced by bleachers wrapping around the home base side of the field in front of the new press box. However, those bleachers are being put to good use. Boezeman said they have been relocated to have more seating at the BCSC Soccer Complex.
The color scheme for the football visiting bleachers will be identical to the home side of the field. The press box will still remain on the east end of the field looking west. The one major change to the press box is that there will be three entrances instead of just the main one on the south end.
BCSC Manager of Projects Greg Ferguson said entire construction costs on all the projects is $6.3 million, which includes the lights for the Columbus North baseball and softball teams at Southside Elementary. They do plan to make similar field improvements to North’s baseball and softball diamonds at Southside, but they have not yet been budgeted yet, according to Boezeman.
The East football bleachers and press box renovations will be completed by the start of the football season in August. The concession and restrooms that will be shared by football, baseball and softball will be ready for the next baseball and softball season. The goal for the baseball and softball facility renovations is to be complete by the end of the calendar year.
