BANNER ELK, N.C. – Lees-McRae Vice President for Athletics and Club Sports
Craig McPhail announced on Tuesday morning that portions of the Softball Field will be converted to an artificial playing surface with the installation of the Triple Play Turf System from FieldTurf. The new turf will comprise the area behind home plate and extend down both foul lines, with the dirt infield and natural grass outfield remaining intact. The bullpens adjacent to the Softball Field will also be converted to artificial turf.
"We have one of the best backdrops in college softball and to help further enhance the facility with FieldTurf will allow us to continue to elevate the experience of our softball team," said McPhail. "This will give our coaches and team the opportunity to build off of our recent success."
This addition to the
Softball Field, which has served as the home venue for the Lees-McRae softball team since the program's inception in 1994, will create a more sustainable playing surface that will limit the prior difficulties associated with the unpredictable weather of the college's home in the mountains.
"Adding the turf to our home field will not only increase our ability to recruit high quality student-athletes into our program, but it will help us on a daily basis in terms of our ability to practice in various weather conditions," said Head Softball Coach
Kendall Fuller. "The turf along the sides of the field as well as in the bullpens gives an area to work on fundamental skills regardless of the field playing conditions, which will also drastically improve with the addition of more infield dirt and leveling. This investment is a game-changer for us in all aspects of the program and, with the hard work of all involved, we are well on the way to making our softball facilities match the beautiful backdrop we play in front of every day."
Even though the Bobcats were unable to play any contests in Banner Elk last season due to the shortened season, Lees-McRae finished with seven wins on the Softball Field in 2019 en route to capturing the 2019 Conference Carolinas Championship title with a 2-0 win over Southern Wesleyan on April 28, 2019.
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