LEETONIA HIGH SCHOOL Baseball players will have new field in the spring

School officials will open bids in January for an eight-lane cinder track.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- When the Leetonia High School baseball players take to the field this spring, they'll have home field advantage for the first time in three seasons.
The baseball and softball fields were lost as construction crews excavated around the former Orchard Hill School, then tore it down to make way for the district's new complex that now houses all the district's nearly 900 pupils.
The baseball field was torn out three years ago and the softball fields last year. The new fields are along Butcher Road on the southeast side of the school property.
"The [baseball] seniors have never played on a Leetonia field," Superintendent Tom Inchak said. "We're very pleased with the way the grass seeding has come up. The fields are playable. We want to get the dugouts and fencing done as soon as possible."
Inchak said if the fields are ready the teams could practice outside in the spring as soon as the winter weather breaks.
A priority now is to put up the fence around the new football field, then fence the softball and baseball fields, Inchak said.
Concession stands
The wood-frame concession stand operated by the band boosters was dismantled and rebuilt at the new football field, Inchak said. There will also be a concession trailer at the new football field to replace the second concession stand operated at the old stadium by the junior class. That concession stand is in a concrete block building at the old stadium and will remain there, he said.
The board of education must decide what other projects to undertake, he said. The architects planned for a gazebo-style pavilion, basketball courts and tennis courts, to be built as funding is available, Inchak said.
School officials will open bids in early January for construction of an eight-lane cinder track. There are no plans for the track to have an all-weather surface, Inchak said.
Some area school districts have built all-weather tracks through large donations by benefactors, or with community fund-raising activities, but no such plans have been discussed for Leetonia's track, he said.
Next project
Inchak said work should begin any time on the next construction project scheduled, the weight room and locker room at the football stadium. The structure will be built behind the north end zone.
The board of education recently awarded contracts for the work, and contractors have the go-ahead to start construction.
Inchak said the contractors have 120 days to complete the project.
The architect's estimate was $375,000. The total of contracts awarded is lower than the bid, at about $362,000. Santini Builders Inc. of Washingtonville is the general contractor, at $248,700. Other contractors are Ellyson Plumbing of Salem, $55,555; S M Electric Co. Inc. of Austintown, $26,275; and Aerotech Inc., of Boardman, $31,490.