HARLINGEN — It’s begun.
No more cramped seating. No more searching for places to park.
And no more waiting in frustration outside the restroom when you need to rush back for the next pitch.
Well, the school district is in the midst of a major overhaul of two “practice” baseball fields. Work began about a month ago on two fields at 3200 Dixieland Road and 2809 North 7th St., said Oscar Tapia, assistant superintendent of district operations.
“They were practice fields because we used to play at the WhiteWings field, the city baseball park,” Tapia said.
He was referring to Harlingen Field, the longtime home of the former Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings.
“We’re going to be moving away from that to having our own home games at our own baseball fields,” he said.
The district, he added, has wanted to make that move since the 2010 bond program.
“In order to accommodate varsity games we’re going to be doubling the size of the parking lot so that spectators and parents can have more room to park,” he said. “We’re going to add more restrooms to accommodate more people and we’re going to add concession stands. We also removed the bleachers from the baseball field because we’re going to enlarge the bleachers with a different design to accommodate more people.”
He said work should be completed by the end of January in time for baseball season. The location on Dixieland Road will be Harlingen High School South’s baseball field. The field at 2809 North 7th St. will be part of Harlingen High School’s program.
More seating
Extra restroom building with concession stand
Additional parking space
Cost of improvements
$1.67 in TRE funds
Tax Ratification Election funds are those extra dollars collected through a property tax increase approved by voters two years ago.
WHERE: Baseball/Softball Field at Harlingen High School South
3200 Dixieland Road
WHERE: Keys Baseball/Softball Field
2809 North 7th St.
