LHS Softball Team's New Home
Louise volunteers making softball field reality
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com
The Louise community truly is stepping up to the plate to create a softball field for its high school girls, going from bare land to sod and red dirt in only a few weeks.

One thing the folks in Louise are good at ... taking limited resources and stretching them to accomplish goals. Sort of like the "fishes and loaves" story in the Bible. Louise ISD took discounts, donations and volunteer labor, and with some luck, could have their new softball field ready to go this semester. Volunteers worked Saturday putting down four truckloads of sod to form the outfield. L-N Photo by Chris Barbee

"We've had unbelievable contributions from the community," Superintendent Andy Peters told trustees Monday night.

The board in late November agreed to issue a call for volunteers and donations to get started building the field after residents came forward with offers of materials, equipment and labor.

LISD bought 12.6 acres in 2006 to build the field and expand other facilities, but after voters turned down a higher tax amount in a rollback election Nov. 6, 2007, trustees decided to emphasize academics as they whittled their budget down.

L-N Photo by Chris Barbee New LHS Field Sodded Volunteers worked steadily Saturday morning and afternoon to sod the outfield of the new Louise High School softball field, located right next to the baseball field. The largest student groups to participate were the Junior National Honor Society and the National Honor Society. These young men (l-r) Jared Gonzales, Jonathan Pesina and Daniel Sulak, all sophomores and members of the NHS, were among the workers.

But in November, trustees agreed to let Peters spend part or all of the $22,000 already in the district's budget for new construction to buy bits and pieces not donated, but needed to get a practice field built.

The district had quotes ranging from $125,000 to $200,000 for professionals to do the work, but Peters and board members noted the current LISD baseball field was built with community efforts and very little in district funds.

On Saturday, volunteers came out and helped place sod onto the field.

At the rate volunteer labor, donations and discounts are coming in, Peters said he believes the LHS softball team will play on its home turf by the time the season starts this spring.

"Their first game is Feb. 19 and I want them to actually play on that field," he said. "We may not be ready by the 19th, but I sure would like to be."

Now that drainage, fill, dirtwork and sodding are complete, the "next big piece we have to conquer is fencing," Peters said. The district's "wish list" also includes some concrete, and a backstop.

"We are still getting donations, even cash donations," Peters said. "We'll have a nice facility, because there've been tons of people who've helped."

The board voted in early 2006 to add a softball program for girls, to ensure them the same number of opportunities as boys to participate in sports, which is required by federal law commonly called Title IX.

Later that year, the board bought the acreage adjacent to the current campus to build a softball field and for other growth.

The softball program began during the last school year, and the team practiced on the football field and played its home games in El Campo.