Baseball field is a sore topic for some in Karns City renovation talks
KARNS CITY — When Hayes Design Group created plans for what a potential renovation of Karns City Area Junior/Senior High School could look like, it was asked to include plans for a new baseball field and consider its feasibility.
Ultimately, the architecture firm did not recommend moving forward with a baseball field, despite years of discussion about one.
Matt Dawson, of Hayes, said at a school board meeting Monday, April 13, that while the hypothetical field’s location at the southwest corner of the property was considered the most logical; work would require substantial clearing, regrading, earthwork and building a large retaining wall at a cost of millions of dollars, leaving the proposition not “financially advisable.”
Excluding a ballpark would leave Karns City’s baseball team without a home field at its home.
The hypothetical field was one option included in the school board presentation showing what the high school could look like several years from now if renovated.
Karns City has played its home baseball games at Pullman Park in Butler for years. In 2025, the district paid the City of Butler $215 per game to use the ballpark, according to school district board records.
With design proposals for the high school in front of the board, the focus is on the high school, board President Josh Price said during the meeting. While project costs are an unknown with the proposals in early stages, he referred to the high school renovation as his “personal project.”
His view, he said, was to get the elementary school done, then get the high school done — focusing on educational purposes — and after that look at other projects.
“If it’s something where we have a donor, or if we can work out a deal, like a lease agreement with Sugarcreek Township, or if we can look at something at the Sugarcreek Elementary, then that’s definitely something we’d look at,” Price said. “But I’m worried about this high school project first and foremost before adding another field.”
Varsity baseball coach Josh Smith acknowledged during public comments that the big thing he took away from the presentation was that a field probably can’t go in the proposed location. But he pointed to other projects at Karns City and questioned why money couldn’t also be put toward the baseball program.
For athletics, the district is doing work on its football field — such as upgrading lighting — though grant funding is being utilized for it. However, the high school renovation proposals do include increasing capacity at the main gymnasium, and building a new auxiliary gym.
Smith suggested the district utilized properties it owns, like the Sugarcreek property where the former elementary school is being demolished.
“This has been 10 years. The baseball has been for 30 years an official sport and we don’t even have a place to play or practice,” Smith said. “I just don’t understand how we can’t, maybe, put a little emphasis into trying. Why did we tear Sugarcreek down if there’s zero plan for it?”
Price said it has been discussed with Sugarcreek Township in Armstrong County, but they’re “going through some legal issues,” and it’s “on their back burner.”
Price suggested after the high school project is done and the district is no longer spending on smaller capital projects, such as roof repairs, it could possibly look at a $2-3 million capital project for a baseball or multiuse field.
Price said the board views the current lease at Pullman Park as cost-effective.
“It’s hard for anybody outside of baseball, for me to say to them, I pay x amount of dollars for you to go to Pullman. And as soon as I say, but we’d look at a million for a ballfield, they just laugh,” Price said. “So it’s something where, do we need it? No, we don’t need it. Would it be nice? Yes, it would be very nice. Are we going to need it some day? I think we will, but right now we’ve got a place to play that’s very cost effective for the district.”
Smith expressed frustration during the meeting, saying he feels his players have not gotten the level of respect from the district they deserve over the field dispute.
“I’ve got a handful of kids that this is all they play and they’ve had nothing nice given to them from this school,” Smith said.
Smith pointed to issues caused by utilizing Pullman, such as needing extra time to travel 25 to 30 minutes to and from the ballpark, for low attendance games.
“At some point, we’re going to have to pony up and do something,” Smith said. “Softball plays here. Track plays here. Everybody plays here and we get on a bus to go somewhere else. We are not provided the same resources as everyone else in the school.”
Smith also pointed to the lack of an adequate place to practice for the baseball team as another issue. The baseball team currently uses the space where the softball team plays to practice.
“Right now, I’m given a 220-foot softball field to practice at. We’re one injury away from a kid running through that fence and being a big problem,” Smith said. “I can’t even hit fly balls to my outfielders. We’re a varsity level sport and have zero place to play.”
Early talks of building an on-campus baseball and softball field were reported by the Butler Eagle in July, with officials looking at 70 acres above Diehl Stadium as a potential area to develop, though they didn’t know at the time whether that was economically or environmentally possible.
