MONTICELLO — The distracting litany of “Hey, Batter, Batter”began to fill the fields of the Lawrence County Sportsplex lastweek when a girls softball league opened the first seasonthere.

Volunteers have completed three of the four softball fields atthe sportsplex to enable 13 teams, approximately 145 girls ages5-12, of the Lawrence County Girls Summer Softball League to playthere this year.

It is a major turnaround for the league, said Jeff Mitchell,chairman of the county sportsplex committee.

The sportsplex committee is composed of five members, one fromeach district, appointed by the supervisors. Mitchell representsDistrict One. Other committee members include Ricky Barnes,District Two; Kenny Platt, District Three; Jack Wellborn, DistrictFour; and Denise Weeks, District Five.

“We played on one field for 10 years, playing from 5-10 p.m.every night,” he said. “It’s nice to have the problem now ofkeeping the fields in use.”

A fourth softball field is nearing completion, Mitchell said,and volunteers are presently selling raffle tickets to raise moneyto complete it.

“All the fields are complete, but we need to put the fencingaround the last one,” he said. “If this (fund raiser) works out,we’ll complete it and get started on our concession stand-pressbox.”

Plans are for the concessions stand-press box to be similar tothe one at the Lincoln County Sports Complex, he said.

The park has been a long time coming, Mitchell said. Dirt workfirst began on the two soccer fields in 2001.

“We just finished our second year on the soccer fields,” hesaid.

Approximately 180-200 children register for the soccer leagueeach year.

“That’s great for a county our size,” Mitchell said. “There’s alot of community support for this sportsplex.”

Supervisors and volunteers worked on the park as they couldduring the past three years.

“The supervisors have really helped us out,” he said. “They’vebrought us to this point.”

Mitchell said former District One Supervisor Carey Hedgepeth wasthe driving force behind the park and put in many hours there.

“He was instrumental in it,” Mitchell said. “He was really thebackbone that got this thing going.”

Southern Pine Electric was also instrumental in getting all fourfields lighted, he said.

“They raised poles, set lights and did the trenching at no costto the county,” Mitchell said. “That was several thousand dollarsthey saved us.”

In a separate project from the ball fields, construction on aplayground in the sportsplex is expected to begin next week, hesaid.

“They’ve got their first set of equipment in and are supposed toputting in place in the next week or so,” Mitchell said.

The first set includes playground equipment for children fromtoddlers to five-years-old.

The committee also has plans for walking track that will windthrough the sportsplex.