WLU Breaks Ground on Belmont Savings Bank Softball Complex
West Liberty, W.Va. – After delaying the event due to rain earlier this month, Thursday, April 18, officially marked the groundbreaking ceremony of the Belmont Savings Bank Softball Complex on the campus of West Liberty University at the Hilltopper Softball Complex.
As the latest facility enhancement on the hilltop, the softball complex gained traction towards reality with a lead gift from Belmont Savings Bank, which will provide the program with amenities such as a locker room, concession stand, restrooms, umpire changing area, and a potential batting cage/bullpen, within close proximity of their home diamond. The facility is planned to be located between the Hilltopper Softball Complex and the Belmont Savings Bank Indoor Practice Facility.
“If you look in the brief amount of time the amount of advancement we’ve been able to do in the sport of softball in terms of facilities is instrumental,” stated interim athletic director Brad Forshey as he referenced the creation of the Hilltopper Softball Complex in recent years. “It’s been a long vision of the athletic department and West Liberty administration of having the ideas to advance this and also the generosity of donors like the Belmont Savings Bank to make it possible. We always have our student-athletes’ interest in our number one interest and with the addition of this it’s going to represent the team that we currently have and allow them to have a facility we can all be proud of and also for decades to come the student-athletes we have there.”
Joining Forshey at today’s groundbreaking event was Dr. Tim Borchers (WLU President), Betsy Delk (Executive Director WLU Foundation), Sara Pelegreen (WLU Head Softball Coach), Joe Rodella (WLU Chief Information Officer & Chief Operations Officer), and Joe Mills (Director of Physical Plant) along with representatives of Belmont Savings Bank which included Paul Spigarelli, Pam McKim, Joe Ticich, Meghan Ball, Tommy Modra, and Alicia Jordan.
“We’ve been doing a lot of talk this year about our values on campus and I think this project really exemplifies a couple of those,” said President Borchers. “One would be excellence. I think this facility will really raise the level of softball here and really raise the experience for our students so that they have a locker room, that they have a practice facility that is top notch and worthy of them. I think also it will provide a good sense of community for our students, they’ll have a place to come in common, they’ll have a place to get ready for games, get ready for practice, a place where they’ll really be able to create those lasting bonds that our student-athletes have, and so it’s really going to be a way to be able to bolster our community as well.”
“We are thrilled!” explained Jordan on behalf of Belmont Savings Bank’s partnership in the project. “This has been a long time coming, congratulations ladies, congratulations coach, congratulations to the West Liberty community! It is really about community at Belmont Savings Bank, and we just can’t say enough how much we enjoy supporting the community. We have support everywhere we go and when this groundbreaking was happening, I thought to myself ‘Oh no, who’s going to go?’ and look at the turnout, these folks are amazing. And I hate to say I can speak for them though, but they are thrilled for you!”
“West Liberty has always had so much pride in their institution, their donors have so much pride in this institution,” commented Pelegreen on ‘Why West Liberty’ and one of the university’s many selling points. “The support that I have felt and seen so far since I’ve been here since just January is unreal, and so I sit here and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I know these young ladies feel the exact same way.”
For more information on the new softball facility or to donate to the project, please contact the WLU Foundation at (304) 336-5635.
