VERSAILLES, Ind. — The Cincinnati Reds and their nonprofit, the Reds Community Fund, have long hosted community makeovers and field renovations for local neighborhoods and schools throughout the Tri-State.
On Wednesday, they plan to dedicate their newest field, located about an hour away from Great American Ball Park at South Ripley High School.
The news came as a shock to South Ripley Community Schools Superintendent Rob Moorhead, who said the district was "completely blown away" when the Reds and St. Elizabeth selected them for the project.
"It was humbling, somewhat shocking and really a situation where you were almost in disbelief, like, really? We're going to have a field that has the Cincinnati Reds logo on it here in southeast Indiana?" Moorhead said.
The decision to select South Ripley was easy for the Reds Community Fund, though.
"Once we came out here the first time, it was too easy. The facilities, the leadership, the commitment to the game, everything that we want and need in a project is right here," Reds Community Fund Executive Director Charley Frank said.
It takes more than just a school wanting a new field. The school partners with the Reds and St. Elizabeth Healthcare and has to raise part of the funds to build the field.
"It wasn't a hard sell," Moorhead said. "I mean, people said, 'Yeah, that's a fantastic project. How can we get involved?'"
This is the fourth field the Reds and St. Elizabeth Healthcare have built in Reds Country.
"We stepped up to the plate to do that first one at Bellevue Vets Field. And we just kind of started a process where, geez, wouldn't it be nice if we could do more of them? So we kind of got on this track to do one every two years," said Cary Graham, who works in community relations for St. Elizabeth.
Both baseball and softball will be played on this field, but the Reds believe the impact will go beyond the game.
"These projects do more than participate in our sport," owner Phil Castellini told us. "They really become community gathering places, and I think we're gonna see the same thing in Ripley. That that facility will get more use than the games that are played there."
The team, fund and school hope it'll be a diamond that the whole community can appreciate.
"This is going to be around for a long time, and we've got kids that are across the street in our elementary school that are going to play baseball and softball on this very same field. And that's what really, truly makes it special for us in our community," Moorhead said.
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