Wednesday, May 05, 2004

The most-used fields in the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation system got a complete facelift this spring and were given a grand reopening Tuesday. The 30-year-old softball fields at Lampkin Park were treated to a $175,000 renovation and officially reopened when longtime parks and rec employee Jerry Waddle for whom one of the fields is named threw out a ceremonial first pitch. These fields were so outmoded, said parks athletic programs Manager Paul Correa. They were built in 74 and had 285-foot fences. By adult softball standards, that is way too short with the equipment nowadays. Little guys can hit it out way too easily. So the outfield fences were pushed back and raised, but that brought its own problems. Lampkin wasnt really suited to extension, so we had to do a lot of excavation out there, Correa said. There was a lot of work done there. Other additions were also made to the fields, including new sod, an extended warning track and most importantly new lighting. We had the old ones on wooden polls that were leaning and unsafe, Correa said. They were always in a bad location, too they were shining in the outfielders eyes and that sort of thing. The reopening coincided with the start of the adult softball season. Every year between 80 and 100 teams take part in the leagues played at Lampkin Park, and according to Correa, registration is up this year. We maintain 11 different fields, but these two will be far beyond any of the others, Correa said. Softball is where most of our overall numbers are. These start being used in March for practice and well play on these fields right up until November. Weve played out here when it has snowed before. Correa added that 50 to 70 more teams will play on the Lampkin fields in various tournaments hosted by parks and rec. Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700