Catawba College will hold a dedication ceremony during Homecoming Weekend to celebrate the installation of lights at Whitley Softball Field. The event will be held on Friday, October 25 at 6 p.m. at the field.
The lights were funded through the current MIND BODY SOUL Campaign for Growth and installed during the summer. The campaign raised $235,523 to fund the lights. The lighted field allows Catawba to host evening games, instead of afternoon games, where student athletes had to miss class in order to compete, working parents could not attend to support their children, and other students with scheduled classes also could not attend.
Catawba will now have an opportunity to rent the lighted field for community evening activities.
“With so many classes, labs and clinical held in the afternoons, the lights will give us a huge advantage to be able to practice with our entire team,” said Mandy Morgan, Head Softball Coach and Senior Women’s Administrator/SAAC Advisor. “When we can, we are trying to play in the evenings. Obviously weather is a factor, but evening games give parents and the community a chance to come to more games.”
Larry Leckonby, Director of Athletics at Catawba, agreed, saying that the lights “allow us to minimize missed class time, provide more opportunity for spectators to attend host additional community events in the evenings and on weekends.”
The Catawba Softball season runs from January through April, with some additional practice time during the fall semester. The Catawba women’s team has won the South Atlantic Conference Champion twice, in 2015 and 2016.
