FTCC is planning a softball facility next to the College’s J.P. Riddle Stadium on Legion Road.
Fayetteville Technical Community College announces plans to build a softball field next to the College’s J.P. Riddle Stadium on Legion Road.
The College has budgeted $1.5 million for the project, which would be completed in two phases.
The first phase of the project, which could be sent to bid before the end of the year, would consist of the softball field itself, a scoreboard and lights built on just over an acre of land in what is currently the west corner of the parking lot next to Legion Road.
The second phase would include the building of a new locker room next to the existing locker room facility at J.P. Riddle Stadium.
FTCC Director of Facilities Services Richard Lee said the first phase could be completed as early as May.
“We currently rent a softball field, and I’m excited for us to have our own,” Lee said.
The FTCC softball program currently uses Honeycutt Park at Kiwanis Recreation Center as its home field.
The new softball facility, which is being designed by Crawford Design Company, would not only give the college a field of its own, but it would also put the Trojans softball and baseball teams in adjacent facilities.
Cumberland County gifted J.P. Riddle Stadium and the 14.87-acre tract it sits on to Fayetteville Tech in December 2018, with the college taking ownership ahead of the start of the baseball program’s inaugural spring season in 2019.
“I’m really excited for the softball team and Coach John Newman to compete in a first-class softball facility next to the beautiful J.P. Riddle baseball stadium,” FTCC Athletic Director Dr. Shannon M. Yates said. “And I thank (FTCC President Dr. J. Larry Keen), Director of Facilities Services Richard Lee and Senior Vice President of Business & Finance Robin Deaver for their hard work in making this possible.”