PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) – The athletic facility that has served as a home for the Parkersburg South High School Patriots for decades reached a new milestone Tuesday.
Workers broke ground Oct. 1 on new baseball and softball fields at the Erickson All-Sports Facility in Parkersburg.
Rick Bush, president of the Erickson All-Sports Facility Development Corporation, said baseball and softball fields have been part of the vision for the facility since the beginning.
“When we started designing this place, we couldn’t even bring ourselves to design this place without a baseball and a softball field,” Bush said.
Bush said multiple proposed bonds to support the new fields at Erickson failed over the years, leaving Parkersburg South without a consistent place to play home baseball and softball games.
Fortunes changed in 2022, when Wood County voters approved a bond to fund school construction and improvement projects across the district–including the new fields at Erickson.
“With today’s costs, nobody can just come in and write a check to do it,” Bush said. “So, we’re so very grateful to the voters of Wood County for finally giving us a chance to have a home field.”
Parkersburg South Principal Maria Francisco said breaking ground on the fields is a special moment for her school.
“We’ve needed our own baseball-softball home fields for a very, very long time,” Francisco said. “And this is step one to getting that done. And we are very excited to be able to give our kids a place of their own to play.”
Like Bush, Francisco expressed gratitude to the voters who approved the bond that made the fields possible.
“That just shows the love this community has for our kids,” Francisco said. “And that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about facilities or adults. It’s about the kids 100%.”
Wood County Schools Assistant Superintendent of Operations Kaleb Lawrence said the Erickson fields are a boon not only for Parkersburg South, but the whole community.
“It’s going to be a first-class facility all around,” Lawrence said. “And it’s not only just for our South kids, but also the community. The idea is to have these fields to let, you know, little league teams, baseball, softball, let the community use these fields to have a great facility like this for the area. I think it’s going to draw a lot of people here to see how nice it is and use it.”
Lawrence said that, weather permitting, officials hope to have the project completed in time for this year’s seniors to play at least some games on their new home fields.
See an error in our reporting? Send us an email by clicking here!
Copyright 2025 WTAP. All rights reserved.