Dorene Christensen ‘72 said what a lot of people were likely thinking on Saturday morning at Wolfe Field, where the College formally opened the new Christensen-Buffington Hitting Facility in front of a big crowd of friends and family.
“It’s bigger and better than I imagined,” Christensen said after walking through. “It’s fantastic.”
The new facility, which sits next to the baseball field, features a baseball locker room and five batting cages. The netting on the cages can be retracted, allowing the turf floor to be used for other forms of practice and work inside the building. It’s the culmination of well over 10 years of planning, fundraising and work to complete the Wolfe Field facility, from the field to seating to dugouts, scoreboard, bullpens, and now the final piece – the hitting facility that became a reality thanks to generous gifts from the Christensen and Buffington families. Both Carl Christensen ’70 and Dean Buffington ’63 were student-athletes at the College and their families remain strong supporters of their alma mater. [College of Idaho]
BASE | Beautiful day for the beautiful game. Join us at Wolfe Field to support your Yotes taking on Eastern Oregon. Grand opening of the Christensen-Buffington Hitting Facility starts at 11:30am
— College of Idaho Athletics (@CoyoteAthletics) April 27, 2024
📺Watch: https://t.co/ldcDX9C0lG
📊Live Stats: https://t.co/lyHbn6aonE#ComeWinWithUs pic.twitter.com/U2TMwYK1ZJ
Centenary Athletics will hold a ribbon-cutting event to celebrate the completion of its new fieldhouse and football practice field on Thursday, May 9, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The celebration includes a reception and student-athlete-led tours of the new facilities. It is free and open to the public.
Centenary president Dr. Christopher L. Holoman, athletic director David Orr, and head football coach Byron Dawson will speak at the event inaugurating the new 4,700 square foot fieldhouse that houses locker rooms for Centenary's football team along with its women's soccer and softball teams. The facility, which also includes coaches' offices, looks out over the new 76,500 square foot turf practice field. Adjacent to the Gold Dome and to Mayo Field, home of Centenary's football, lacrosse, and soccer teams, the field house and practice field are the latest addition to Centenary's revitalized athletic complex located on Kings Highway.
"The expansion of new sports and increased enrollment of student-athletes have provided the opportunity to expand and revitalize Centenary's athletic facilities," said Athletic Director David Orr. "Centenary Athletics has outgrown its current facilities, especially related to coach and student-athlete spaces. With the addition of the fieldhouse, which hosts coaches' offices and locker room for the newly added football program, we also took advantage of the opportunity to add coaches' offices and locker rooms for two current and longstanding women's sports, soccer and softball." [GoCentenary.edu]
With nearly 250 donors and fans in attendance, Ohio Northern University dedicated its new state-of-the-art softball facility – Durbin-Hileman Softball Stadium – on April 27, 2024. The stadium is named in recognition of lead donors and longtime University supporters Melinda (Durbin) Hileman, BA ’87, and David Hileman, BSBA ’86, BSPh ’86.
The stadium is home to the university’s women’s softball team. It features large dugouts, a new scoreboard with updated technology, padded backstop, upgraded press box, permanent bleachers with bucket seating, field lighting, and natural turf.
More than 167 families contributed to the project. [Ohio Northern University]
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