Westview baseball playing back at home after $100,000 field renovations because of storm

MARTIN — Drew Bell remembers getting to Westview High School last March when one of his teammates texted him.

It was the day after a bad storm. His teammate had news regarding the baseball field the Chargers use at the Martin Recreation Complex.

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The scoreboard was on the field.

“I was coming to school and I got a text from one of my buddies on the team and he told me the scoreboard is sitting in the infield,” Bell said. “The scoreboard was sitting right behind the mound. The poles were bent. It was just a bad, bad situation.”

A bad storm with straight-line winds damaged much of the field and its amenities.

In response, the community of Martin banded together to raise money for the renovations. The renovations totaled around $100,000.

After playing its home games at University of Tennessee at Martin last season, Westview is back playing on its home field.

“It’s come along to become a really top-notch baseball field,” Westview coach Danny Giles said. “A lot of donors around Martin have pitched in to make this a first-class facility.”

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Giles, who is in his first season at Westview after coming from Liberty Tech, couldn’t wait to start practicing on the new field.

While it took some time to start practicing on it because of rain, he said it’s a more crowd-friendly environment, which contributes to a better atmosphere.

“We got out on the field twice before the season started,” Giles said. “The crowds have come out and it’s our job to produce and get some victories.”

Along with the scoreboard, the dugouts were rendered useless. The poles surrounding the field were damaged, too. Bell said one of the workouts the team had to do last season was to pick up the debris from the storm. The field and the new amenities have come a long way since.

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The new scoreboard, which is in right field, displays 10 innings and includes pitch counts. Both dugouts are made of bricks compared to the previous ones, which had chain links. A backstop with padding behind home plate was installed as well. And the poles were replaced with new netting.

Bell and the rest of the team are grateful to the community coming together and giving the Chargers their home field again.

“What they are going to put in this program, we’re going to give back to them,” Bell said. “We play our hardest every game to give back to the people who gave us this and back to our community so they can watch us.”

Reach Luis Torres at ltorres1@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9638 and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.