Oakland softball begins work on indoor facility
MURFREESBORO – Oakland’s softball program saw the fruition of hours of work fundraising on Wednesday with the ground breaking of a new indoor facility.
“In order to stay competitive in 7-AAA, you are going to have to have something like this,” said Oakland coach Janice Morey, whose team won the District 7-AAA tournament this past year. “If you can’t get the same amount of (swings) in that everyone else is you are at a disadvantage.”
When constructed, the facility will be 60 feet by 100 feet in size and be built behind the first base dugout beside the school’s weight room. The new building will carve out a piece of room the football program has used for practice fields.
It will be the same size as Riverdale’s softball indoor facility. The Lady Patriots will be the third softball program in the county to have an indoor facility. Smyrna also has one.
“Riverdale and Smyrna — that’s who has been on top. I think there is a correlation there to their facilities,” Morey said.
Riverdale won the 2009 Class AAA state softball championship. Smyrna won the 2013 title.
The facility is being funded by money raised by the softball program. No tax dollars will be used. Morey said the entire project costs an estimated $70,000. The program has already paid for the building, and has between $20,000 to $30,000 left to raise, Oakland softball booster club president Tom Little said.
The softball program is reducing labor costs by having parents do the construction of the building.
Little said Jamie Hire of Hire Construction has been a consultant with the project.
“It’s not as hard as you may think,” said Little of the construction. “There are three main tiers. It’s sort of like a LEGO set. And the material is the same color as the other buildings, so it will blend in.
“We can’t thank the football program enough for giving up some of their property for this project.”
Morey said the booster program intensified their fundraising efforts to raise money for the project. They’ve worked concession stands at Titans games. They’ve implemented a golf tournament and even have a cornhole tournament set for March 7.
“We’ve worked really hard for it,” Little said. “We were able to write a check and have the building (material) delivered. That’s the biggest thing. Parents have really stepped up to make this happen.”
The softball indoor building adds to the athletic facilities at Oakland, which also includes a football indoor facility and a video board for its football stadium.
Morey said the majority of the facility will be used for hitting areas, with areas for pitching lanes. There will also be an area for a locker room, a coach’s office and bathrooms.
The team’s current locker room is located in a room next to the press box. Morey said that room is too small for the team.
“Hopefully we’ll get the first stage of it done by the postseason and be able to take some cuts in it then, if not earlier, “Morey said. “The first stage is the shell, insulation along with some of the electricity needed to run it.”
Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.