BURNSVILLE — (WLOS) A local high school and another WNC location impacted from Hurricane Helene received facility upgrades to their baseball and softball fields from the Atlanta Braves.
The Atlanta Braves, together with Truist, hosted a formal celebration of the baseball and softball facility upgrades at Mountain Heritage High School on Tuesday, October 14. The facility upgrades were done as part of the Braves Park Projects Together with Truist initiative, which works to create safe and accessible playing spaces for young athletes across Braves Country, and is the first time this initiative supported facilities in North Carolina.
“We say it as a tag line, but building community through baseball is a real thing,” said VP of Community Affairs and Executive Director of Atlanta Braves Foundation, Danielle Bedasse. “When I said, baseball is all about getting home. This really is a home to so many. This is a safe place. Baseball is a game of life. You have to be a strong individual contributor, and you have to play as a team. You have to be able to win and lose, and keep going, keep swinging, as Hank Aaron would say.”
“Braves Country, in a lot of ways is well beyond our six state market. Our fans are near and far and all around the world. But we’ve really made an effort to give back to Braves Country, across the six states, that cheer for us.”
The Atlanta Braves Foundation, Truist, and Mountain Heritage High School were joined by student-athletes from the high school and key representatives across organizations and the community. The event led off with opening remarks, followed by a ceremonial first pitch to commemorate the special occasion. The Atlanta Braves Foundation and Truist teams also be gave away promotional items to Mountain Heritage baseball and softball players.
After the ceremony, members of Truist and the Braves took on volunteer projects. Painted dugouts and scoreboard posts, along with planting a ceremonial magnolia tree.
“Very excited. I feel like our outfield fence getting improved has helped a lot,” said senior catcher for Cougar softball, Layla Worley. “Because other teams could lean back on the fence and it was an advantage for them I feel like.”
“I’ve always been a Braves fan, since they’re the closest team, I’ve always followed them,” said junior short stop for Cougars baseball, Brayden Deyton. “It’s really cool, to look at the new fence and stuff, it’s so much better than it was before.”
“When the Hurricane was here, they were landing helicopters all over the field.,” said head baseball coach, Todd Reagan. “Trucks, forklifts, so we had 7 to 8 inch deep divots crossing the field – it was a danger to play. We got it to playing conditions, still a long ways to go, but we’re going to get there.”
Braves Park Projects together with Truist supported two Western North Carolina baseball and softball facilities that were affected by the impact of Hurricane Helene. Mountain Heritage High School is one of the two recipients and is the sixth overall organization to benefit from this initiative. Facility upgrades at Mountain Heritage High School include fencing repairs and repositioning of the outfield softball fence, as well as installing an outfield windscreen for the baseball field, windscreen overlays for the softball field, a pitching mound, L-screen nets, and scoreboards.
“In addition to that, Truist came out with a Truist Cares for WNC Program. It’s a three-year $725 million initiative,” said Truist Market President, Aaron Slate. “Supporting small business, housing, infrastructure. It includes $25 million in philanthropic funds to local nonprofits, and ten thousand volunteer hours from our Truist teammates.”
Elks Lodge Field is the additional location in Western North Carolina that received support from the Braves Park Projects together with Truist initiative. Facility upgrades at Elks Lodge Field include the completion of brand-new first base line, third base line, and outfield fencing, as well as new batting cage fencing and an outfield windscreen.