Published Tuesday, October 15, 2002
softball site
Herald Staff Writer
Over $150,000 worth of renovation and construction will make a local softball field complex a place to go for those with ice skates and horseshoes as well as softballs and bats.
The Mercer County Regional Council of Governments has applied for a grant through the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to improve and add on to the 50-plus acres of the Shenango Valley Softball Recreation Complex on Wheatland Road in Shenango Township.
The existing complex now has three softball fields, a concession stand, a maintenance building and utility garage, restrooms, picnic tables and park grills, according to Melissa Koch, COG's regional recreation specialist.
Additions to the park will include a soccer field that can handle one regulation soccer game or two youth league games and a natural-freeze ice skating rink. Both will be located in and around an overflow parking lot in the park.
A covered picnic pavilion is also in the works and will be located near the restrooms. Nearby, a regulation-sized bocce court, a horseshoe pit, a sand volleyball court and a basketball half court are also planned.
COG also has plans for a quarter-mile nature trail behind the second softball field, according to Ms. Koch.
Renovations include updating the electrical wiring and lighting in the park complex to bring it up to code, improvements to the concession stand, relocation of a storage shed, the installation of a rainwater run-off pipe system at one of the softball fields, repairs to park fencing, and removal of dead or dying trees in the project areas, Ms. Koch said.
The proposed project is considered "Phase II" by COG. Previous DCNR money, used during "Phase I" of the park complex project, were for walkways to all parking areas and restrooms, creation of additional parking areas, and resurfacing of access roads into the park.
COG, which recently applied for the grant, will hear from DCNR next spring, and work on the project will begin soon after if COG is awarded the grant, Ms. Koch said.