10-year dream is weeks away for Dalton softball

If you build it, they will come.

A dream of almost 10 years is weeks away from being realized for Dalton High School — a new softball field.

“It has been the desire of the school district to provide our high school softball program with its own field,” said Brian Misanko, Dalton High athletic director and the assistant principal. “For a long time, the teams have been using the village’s field. When the new elementary and middle school was built in 2012 and Dalton Elementary and Intermediate schools were razed, the plan was to eventually build a high school softball field on that property in downtown Dalton. Therefore, the property was prepped to one day become a softball field.”

The new field, located behind the Dalton Presbyterian Church and across the street from the Dalton Public Library, is due to be completed and ready for the Bulldogs sometime in April.

“I’m very very grateful, and we appreciate everyone who’s put the money to make this field because it’s a very nice field and a great upgrade,” said Skylar McConnell, a junior at Dalton and softball team member.

“It’s very dependent on the weather,” said Travis Van Pelt, the first-year coach of the DHS junior varsity team. “So we’d like to get up there this year. We hope to because the season is so short. We hope to at least get this class of seniors to get on the field before their senior game. That would be really great for them to kind of break the field in, and it’s exciting for the girls to get something new.”

The new field has a dirt infield of crushed red clay with a sod outfield and a warning track around the outfield.

“Right before you get to the fence, there’s 5 or 6 feet of pebbles. If you feel that, you know you’re getting close to the fence,” Van Pelt said.

The field in use now, and a longtime landmark in Dalton, is right beside the gas stations and Route 30.

The new field will have dugouts with a storage space to hold tools and equipment. There also will be an electronic scoreboard in right-center field. Eventually, it’s hoped restrooms will be added.

“We do not have an exact date as we are still waiting for some drainage issues to be taken care of, as well as the installation of the backstop fence,” Misanko said of the field’s christening. “Our goal will be to open the field sometime this season. The spring weather has really delayed us.”

The high school softball season will run through mid-May.

“Without the support of our community members and their financial support, this softball field would not be here today,” Misanko said, thanking Howard Wenger Family and Wenger Companies, the driving force behind launching the project, as well as Doug and Deb Wenger, Jason Geiser and Deco-Crete, Tim Steiner and Steiner Masonry, the DHS Class of 1971, and the family of Janine C. Ramer.