Chalk lines, sunflower seeds, rakes scratching dirt and the smell of green leaf volatiles signify that Spring is in season.
On school grounds there are two ball fields: one for baseball and the other for softball. The diamond that hugs Stallion Ridge is where the baseball team practices and plays their home games. On the other side of campus near the entrance to The Badlands is where the softball field is located.
The baseball field has gone through much transformation since the opening of the school. Meanwhile, the softball field is undergoing needed changes to improve its state.
Jeremy Wooten was the head coach of the baseball program for a decade. His tenure began when SJHHS opened in 2007 and ended in 2017.
“It [field] didn’t have the outfield fence, it didn’t have the batting cages. It didn’t have dugouts, it didn’t have [a] scoreboard. There were trees in the outfield we had to remove so it was kind of a very blank slate,” said Wooten.
The Baseball diamond has developed into an exceptional facility since opening of the school back in 2007.
“We’re up on a hill, we’re kinda tucked away. If you look around it looks like a college field. The scenery, the hills, the greens, the trees and the field. Our coaches are putting in a ton of work making sure it’s up to date,” said pitcher Austin Plisinski (12).
“I feel like we did quite a bit in 10 years. Then Coach [Bret] LeVier came in and he’s done a great job continuing that process. He’s done some nice things to the field [and has] added some new features. I feel like that place has come a really long waze to where it is now,” said Wooten.
The absence of stadium lights seems to be the only feature that is missing from the ballfield, and this has to do with the neighborhood that is across Stallion Ridge.
“I think it’s because they [neighbors] like to go to sleep. We can’t be in the batting cage at a certain time at night because people are going to sleep [at] like 9 pm [and] there’s lights in the batting cage.”
The lights that shine on the batting cages are not close to the size nor brightness of stadium lights. Along with economic factors, the installation of stadium lights for games and practices is not a possibility.
“We did have an attempt to install lights. It did come back pretty expensive for both the material and approval process. I think what was really the nail in the coffin was when they built those homes across the street, it was going to be much more difficult to get that [lights] passed,” said Wooten.
Lights or no lights, the home of the pinstriped Stallions remains a gem for the players.
“I don’t think it’s really missing anything. I think we have the best high school field in our league for sure. Definitely out of all the fields we play in, [the] landscape is perfect,” said Plisinski.
To the other side of campus, the Softball field is in a much different situation.
“The field hasn’t been getting a lot of love recently. We redid the outfield [fence], we put a blue tarp on it. Coach Deshon, he has helped so much. I think I see him everyday doing something. We also just got a batting cage that’s still in the process right now, I think by the end of this year [it] will be done,” said shortstop Gianna Ioja (11).
With the incomplete batting cage and other aspects of the field needing attention, there are some weekends where Head Coach Tyler Deshon requests his players to sacrifice hours of their weekends to come help at school.
“Coach Deshon will be like ‘okay ladies come down here at 10am, we’ll work 10 through 12 [o’clock].’ It’s just the girls getting together and helping clean up because it’s a lot of working keeping it [field] clean. Softball, we don’t get a lot of love from the school. The girls have to make sure everything is clean everyday. We rake, we sweep and we make sure that the field is clean,” said Ioja.
On the bright side, the installation of a new scoreboard is a newly completed feature that was added for the 2024 season.
“That [scoreboard] was added two months ago. It went through a big process of being accepted by the district. It took until a year until it was officially up there. It’s massive, when you’re driving to your parking spot at school it’s just right there,” said Ioja.
There is one thing that Ioja wants to be known by the public: no one should intrude on the softball field.
“Stay off our field. There are so many kids that will come on our field and destroy it. We have locks but they’ll jump the fence, but please stay off our field. People will come through and ruin it. It gets annoying because we have to clean up their mess,” said Ioja.
