First game played on revitalized softball field

As they famously said in the movie “Field of Dreams”…If you build it, or in this case, rebuild it, they will come.

In April 2022, when FDR Middle School was shut down and the school community moved into the beautiful Ben Franklin Middle School, many people may not have remembered or noticed that there was a softball field behind Franklin’s new athletic fields, which had fallen into deep disrepair.

The field, equipped with a clubhouse and lights, had not been used for several years, and all aspects of the facility were in very bad condition.  It had become a neglected eyesore. But then Mike Cox and Ken Sperling from the district’s operations and facilities departments, working with a variety of recycled and refurbished items and materials, got to work on a vision that one day BTSD student-athletes would once again play softball under those lights.

Finally, on the night of May 7, that vision came to fruition.

On that beautiful spring evening, girls’ softball returned to the newly revitalized field, as Ben Franklin took on Armstrong under the lights. To say the game was well received would be an understatement. Parents, players, educators and the community came together to watch Tiger student-athletes showcase their skills and athletic ability to a large crowd.

“Seeing players, coaches, students and families using the field and facility, which was an eyesore a few months ago, was incredible,” Cox stated. “There were multiple comments made about how amazing the place looked.”

The game featured a student singing the national anthem, player introductions and music that made all the hard work everyone put into making this event happen worthwhile.

Franklin standout pitcher Paige Stanley put forward a stellar effort on the mound to vanquish the crosstown Armstrong rivals, but the bigger story on the evening was the opportunity for Tiger Nation to come together on this reborn field.

“I want to personally thank Ken Sperling and our maintenance crew for the tremendous amount of work involved in bringing this complex back from abandonment,” Cox stated. “I want to thank Christine Secor from the Franklin facilities team and her crew who scrubbed the building from top to bottom and made sure everything was bright and shiny. I also have to express my gratitude to Joe Marlow and Jessica Shultz who brought this vision together and coordinated all of the entertainment, along with Mr. Dayton and Mr. Boles, who allowed us to organize this event.”

Cox spoke to the umpire prior to the game, who remarked, “Wow, this place looks amazing. I didn’t even know this field was back here.”

Many parents and visitors commented on how impressed they were that the building had working bathrooms and were complimentary about how a once-abandoned facility was now an outstanding showcase for BTSD softball.

In addition to removing over 30 yards of debris that was left behind, the following items were completed by district operations and facilities staff over the last few months:

• Rebuilt bathroom fixtures at toilets, urinals and sinks. Hot water heater rebuilt.
• New wood decking for equipment to be kept off the floors.
• The entire building was repainted in Tiger colors (black & gold).
• All new chain link fencing was installed around the infield as well as new dugout fencing.
• New benches were installed in the dugouts.
• Fences repaired in the batting cage with new netting installed.
• New outfield screening and fence cap installed (recycled from FDR).
• New stone access road installed to eliminate mud to the building.
• New locking gate installed at entrance road to keep vehicles out.
• New storage shelving installed for athletic equipment (left over from Franklin project).

“Our goal is to give Bristol Township students a great place to achieve in academics, the arts and athletics,” Cox stated. “It bothered us that Franklin was such a beautiful campus, except for this one abandoned section. Now, a building which sat empty for years can be used for softball games, equipment storage and other student activities.”