At the Feb. 24 Pike County Schools Board of Education Meeting, Superintendent Dr. Mark Bazell gave an update to the board on the construction ongoing at the future site of a brand new Baseball/Softball Complex for Pike County High School.

The new complex, which has been in the planning since 2021, broke ground last fall and while that construction may not be apparent to those that travel on Main Street in Brundidge, progress has been plentiful. One would need to travel down a side street off Main Street, and behind the old “shirt factory” in Brundidge, to get a glimpse of the future state-of-the-art complex. 

Bazell showed off aerial images of the construction to the board, which shows the completion of the dugouts for both the softball and baseball fields as well as construction beginning on the concession stands. Bazell, though, said those images were taken three weeks ago and construction has moved even further along with the completion of bleachers and the completion of the concession stand imminent.

While weather hampered some of the construction earlier this year, Bazell said the target date for the opening of the complex is still planned for the end of Spring Break.

“We’re still hoping to finish by the end of Spring Break, so that our players will at least get a chance to play a couple of games there,” Bazell said. “That week of snow, and a good bit of rain, has slowed us down a little bit but we’re a lot further along than those pictures show. We’re still keeping our fingers crossed (for opening after spring break). I’d love for those kids to get to at least play a couple of games on those fields.”

Bazell said the new complex will be a big step for Pike County Athletics. 

“It’s huge for the athletic program,” he emphasized. “If you’re going to try and build those programs where they need to be, the facilities need to be first class. These faculties are going to be just that.” 

The facilities will include bullpens for the fields, locker rooms in the dugouts and covered batting cages, but the planned $3 million construction for the softball/baseball complex is just the first phase of the entire complex. 

Adjacent to the baseball and softball fields will be the construction of a new soccer field and an eight-lane track, which is anticipated to be a $1.5 million project. Bazell said that if the baseball and softball complex are completed by the end of Spring Break, Phase II is planned to begin sometime in the spring. He also teased that more could be coming to the site in the future, as well.

“We hope to start Phase II sometime this spring, which will bring us the track and soccer fields and so forth,” Bazell continued. “We’re thinking about some other things down there for the future even past the track and soccer fields, too.”