LLANO — Officials continue to meet to talk about the design of the new baseball and softball fields to be built at Llano High School.
The fields are part of the $33 million bond voters approved weeks ago.
“We’ll start (construction) in a couple of weeks,” athletic director Craig Slaughter said.
For now, the fields will be just that – fields complete with fencing, dugouts, bleachers, concessions and restrooms. Slaughter said the sketches right now do not include clubhouses or locker rooms. But he did not rule out those being built in the future.
“We have room for stuff like that,” he said. “Obviously, the bond was voted in by our community. It passed resoundedly.”
One of the big benefits of creating the fields is location. They will be built in the area of the practice fields on the high school campus, which means fans will be able to use the school’s lot for parking.
The current baseball and softball fields are spread around Robinson City Park, just far enough to make the walking distance between the two difficult.
“For me, personally, I can go to one place and watch them both play,” Slaughter said. “With our current setup, they’re three miles apart. Our student body was split; our parents were split.”
Other parts of the bond pertaining to the athletics department are the installation of artificial turf field at Llano Stadium, getting a new track and building an indoor practice facility that Slaughter said also will be used by the cheerleaders and the band.
Slaughter said the priorities are the baseball and softball fields, and the artificial turf will not be installed in time for the 2014 football season.
“I’m very excited,” he said about what’s coming, particularly the indoor facility. “It’s extremely useful for all our sports, all our programs. When it’s 120 degrees, we can go in there to give them a break. There will be a ton of advantages.”