An unused softball field behind Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Levittown has been revitalized to provide a new home for girls’ softball in the Bristol Township School District.
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The field at the newly-renovated middle school hosted its first game last Wednesday.
Franklin’s team played Neil A. Armstrong Middle School’s team under the lights on the newly updated field, which features a clubhouse and lights.
Mike Cox and Ken Sperling from the district’s operations and facilities departments spearheaded the project, which involved them using recycled and refurbished materials to transform the neglected field behind the middle school.
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“Seeing players, coaches, students and families using the field and facility, which was an eyesore a few months ago, was incredible,” Cox said.
Cox thanked the maintenance crew, the Franklin facilities team, and those who coordinated the entertainment for the opening game.
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The inaugural game included a student singing the national anthem, player introductions, and music.
Franklin pitcher Paige Stanley led her team to victory over Armstrong.
Cox noted that the umpire remarked on the field’s improved condition, and many parents had positive comments on the working bathrooms and the overall transformation of the once-abandoned facility.
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Over the past few months, district staff removed over 30 yards of debris and completed numerous upgrades, including rebuilding bathroom fixtures, installing new wood decking, repainting the building in the school’s black and gold colors, installing new fencing around the infield and dugouts, adding new dugout benches, repairing the batting cage, installing new outfield screening and a fence cap recycled from the closed Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School, building a new stone access road, installing a new locking gate, and adding new storage shelving.
“Our goal is to give Bristol Township students a great place to achieve in academics, the arts and athletics,” Cox said. “It bothered us that Franklin was such a beautiful campus, except for this one abandoned section. Now, a building which sat empty for years can be used for softball games, equipment storage and other student activities.”
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