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Stebbins Field
Lady Wave
Stadium a milestone for Greenville
By Bob Robinson
“Newland has probably done more for Greenville and this county than he
might know.”
CNO Sports Editor George Starks called me not long ago and said I
should stop by the new Lady Wave Stadium… Stebbins Field.
“It knocks some college fields out of the park,” he said.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to a college baseball game… try
decades. Texas A&M in the 70s, Cal State Fullerton in the 90s.
Neither one was major impressive in my opinion. Lady Wave Park with its
multiple fields and the multiple baseball diamonds on Ohio St.
overshadowed them.
So I wasn’t expecting to be surprised… I knew I was going to be
impressed. What I didn’t know was “how” impressed!
I haven’t been to the Dayton Dragons field, but I saw several games at
the Richmond Roosters field before the team was sold.
Stebbins Field is every bit as impressive as that semi-pro field.
Actually more so. Stebbins Field is a high school and
community-supported facility.
I wandered around the area snapping photos, thinking about the
accomplishments of the Lady Wave softball coach. Jerrod Newland has put
quite a few feathers in his cap over the past several years, including
a State Championship in 2007.
With the unveiling of Lady Wave Stadium, he can add one more.
George, however, threw a possibility into the mix that hadn’t occurred
to me…
“This stadium is better than some college complexes,” he said. “The
University of Dayton has held regional games for D-1 and II and this
complex puts the one at UD to shame. It's not as big as the one in
Canton but then again, how many are?
“It is good enough to hold the D-II sectionals and possibly smaller
district and maybe regional games for D-III and IV.
“For this complex to be in Greenville is amazing. If Newland can land
these games for state softball, the economic impact it would have is
one that I cannot imagine. Hotels, dining and shopping would boom,
especially on Broadway. Places like the KitchenAid Experience, Montage
and the coffee shop, as well as places like the Bistro, would prosper
in spades. My mind simply can’t conceive of all this.
“Newland has probably done more for Greenville and this county than he
might know.”
There’s something about Darke County and its county seat, Greenville,
that I haven’t seen anywhere else. And I’ve lived in small towns, like
Washingtonville, NY, to metropolitan areas like Southern California,
plus dozens of points in between, big and small.
Despite our challenges – and what community doesn’t have them – there
is a tremendous sense of pride in our history, what we have and who we
are. Jerrod and the Boosters thought Lady Wave Stadium would be a good
idea.
So did the community.
I’m not familiar with the entire list of sponsors – there are many –
but as Secretary of the Greenville Eagles FOE 2177, I know that our
Lodge is one of them.
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