Groundbreaking ceremony held

Steubenville City Schools officials break ground for new baseball and softball complex

STEUBENVILLE -- While construction crews were busy putting up silt fences to prevent dirt runoff, Steubenville City Schools Board of Education officially broke ground Wednesday on their new, $2.5 million baseball and softball complex on Stanton Boulevard.

Superintendent Melinda Young said weather permitting, the site work will continue in earnest for the next couple months and the fields should be ready by spring.

"This project couldn't be done without everybody's help," she told the group assembled for the ceremony. "When we started, one of our goals was to focus on the environmental sensibility of having a field up here. We looked at LED lighting, which we will have, and also put in turf fields. Turf fields will reduce our water consumption and also help us with chemicals and fertilizer.

"Concerns with water runoff have also been addressed by Ohio EPA, Jefferson County Soil and Water and the City of Steubenville, and with those three groups working together, we've been able to do this project in an environmental way we know can make the whole city proud."

Young credited her board of education -- Greg Agresta, Ruth Ann Bruzzese, Matt Davis, William Hendricks and Tom Timmons -- and administrators, as well as businessman and developer Dominic Teramana, with making it happen, pointing out the concept had been on the back-burner until a year ago when Teramana reached out to her with his thoughts on the hilltop area's potential.

Teramana, also at the ceremony, said he was "very excited" to see the project getting under way, pointing out his work on that portion of the worksite started years ago with development of the Laurels.

"As I graded the ground, I realized (this) was a great site for a baseball field (and) a softball field," he said. "I couldn't be happier."

A Catholic Central High School grad himself, Teramana said baseball has always been his first love. "I actually played Little League, Babe Ruth," he recalled, adding he's "elated" to have had a hand in bringing the SCS project closer to fruition.

"This is a beautiful spot for a field," echoed Big Red Softball Coach Gus DiMarzio. "It's very exciting for us to have a place to call home. It's a bright spot in a dismal time for what's going on, we have kids that have lost seasons ... this just brings a glimmer of light for everybody around."

DiMarzio thanked board members and administrators, but said he'd be remiss not to remember the contributions of the late Rich Crugnale, Big Red's first softball coach; the late Dr. Michael Giannamore, team doctor for Big Red's football team for 35 years and a SCS board member for 12 years; and the late Mytia Barker, a standout athlete who'd returned to town for a memorial vigil when she was gunned down a year ago.

"We don't have the stellar tradition the baseball program has or the football program has, but we're building," he said. "I think it's great for us to have our own field and keep the tradition going and represent Big Red in the way it should be represented, on a hill overlooking Harding Stadium."

Baseball Coach Fred Heatherington said it will be good to finally have fields of their own.

"It's been 89 years of Big Red baseball and we've never had a home field until now," Heatherington said. "You guys always give our athletes the best facilities possible -- they appreciate it, (we) as coaches also appreciate it."

Steubenville High School Principal Ted Gorman said because of the "hard work, endless hours and true dedication" of Young and the SCS board of education, as well as Athletic Director John Arlesic, Building and Grounds Director Glenn Woods and Special Projects Manager Mike Bauman, as well as the coaches, "we're going to have a first-class facility up here overlooking Harding Stadium."

To get there, Wood said crews will have to move 2,000 cubic yards of dirt at the seven-acre site. Plans call for dugouts, a press box, restrooms, a concession stand, bleachers and parking, along with the well-drained turf fields.

Teramana, said he's always been a Big Red fan. Partnering with Steubenville City Schools just makes good sense.

"(They) do an incredible job of taking care of all their properties," he said, "making them beautiful and keeping them beautiful."

Young, meanwhile, said that while the new sports complex will be environmentally friendly and state-of-the-art, "our commitment to the environment goes even further. We'll be breaking ground on a new STEM building in spring 2022, (it) will be LED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified."

Young said the new STEM building will be "a healthy building, highly efficient and also provide tax savings to our taxpayers ... so it will basically cost close to zero to run once it's built."

"We're really excited about that, and it also provides STEM education to our students that will provide them careers in this high-paying field," she said.