WNCC baseball stadium construction progressing quickly

With artificial field turf now rolled out onto the new baseball field at Western Nevada Community College, officials are proceeding ahead of schedule getting the rest of John L. Harvey stadium underway.

The community college has maintained all along that amenities planned at the field, from stadium seating to concession stands, will go up as private donations roll in. Well, they're rolling in.

Slightly more than $1 million - about half the entire project's estimated cost - has already been raised.

Helaine Jesse, WNCC vice president of institutional advancement, has said it could take as long as 15 years for the college to collect enough donations for the program, which is entirely privately funded, to build everything that's been envisioned.

On Friday, she said the vision could be complete several years earlier.

"I think it's coming along great because everybody is so excited about it," Jesse said.

The college is on the verge of finalizing a $75,000 donation from three local businesses to pay for the stadium scoreboard.

And on Wednesday, Carson City planning commissioners will vote on a permit for the stadium's second phase.

Phase one is dugouts and the playing field itself. Phase two includes pretty much everything else, although it will continue to be built piece by piece.

The first piece following the field will be a 9,600 square-foot indoor batting facility where the team can get in some hitting practice year-round.

Future projects include stadium seating for 520 fans, a concession structure, restrooms and a press box.

Jesse said construction on the batting facility should begin within a year.

The WNCC Western Wildcats two new sports teams, womens soccer and mens baseball, were accepted into the Scenic West Athletic Conference last month. The soccer team is scheduled to begin its inaugural season this fall and the baseball team will follow in the spring.

The Western Wildcats women's soccer team will play at the Edmonds Sports Complex initially but the college is also pursuing a campus soccer stadium.

At a Carson City Parks and Recreation Committee meeting last week, Jesse proposed building an amphitheater-like soccer stadium out of the massive storm water detention basin the city has dug near the campus at the end of Vicee Canyon.

The college has had a rodeo team for the past three years.

n Contact reporter Cory McConnell at cmcconnell@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1217.