Work is expected to begin this week on a privately funded overhaul of the Unioto High School baseball facility, including a new turf infield, according to a Union-Scioto Local School District statement reported by the Scioto Valley Guardian on Nov. 4.
Superintendent Matt Thornsberry said in the district statement reported by the Scioto Valley Guardian: ‘This project is being funded entirely through private donations, sponsorships, and fundraising efforts. No taxpayer dollars or Union-Scioto School District general fund dollars are being used for this project.’
The project includes turfing the infield plus several additional improvements to the baseball facility at Unioto High School in the Chillicothe area of Ross County. The district hopes to finish before winter, weather permitting, according to the district statement reported by the Scioto Valley Guardian.
Thornsberry credited individuals, families, businesses, sponsors and volunteers for contributing money, time and sponsorships, according to the Guardian’s report of the statement. The district did not initiate or fund the project itself, but officials support it for its long-term benefits for student-athletes and the baseball program.
The funding model is not new for the program. A Unioto Baseball announcement previously posted by Thornsberry on the district’s own website, unioto.org, described a phased plan — first turfing the mound, plate area, base paths and walk-up areas, then turfing the entire infield — and said the baseball project would be fully funded by donations and sponsorships. This week’s start is the moment that community-funded plan moves from announcement to construction.
For a high school baseball program in southern Ohio, a turf infield changes the spring calendar. Natural infields in Ross County are routinely unplayable after March and April rain, forcing postponements, long road stretches and compressed schedules. A turf infield drains faster, takes more wear in practice, and gives the Shermans a home surface that can be ready when grass fields in the Scioto Valley Conference are still drying out.
It also changes the maintenance bill. A grass infield needs mowing, dragging, edging and rain recovery work all season; a turf infield shifts that work toward periodic grooming — one reason donor groups, rather than school general funds, have increasingly taken on projects like this one across Ohio.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed is the funding source — private donations, sponsorships and fundraising, with no taxpayer or general-fund dollars, in the district’s own statement — the scope, a turf infield plus additional facility improvements, and the timeline the district is aiming for, completion before winter if the weather allows. What officials have not announced is a total project cost, a contractor name, or an exact first day of work, and NewsForce247 is not estimating any of them.
For Unioto families, the practical effect is simple: a group of community members decided the baseball program needed a better field, raised the money themselves, and got the district’s support without a levy, a bond issue or a general-fund expense.
What happens next is the work itself, beginning this week. If the district’s hoped-for schedule holds, the new infield will be in place well before the spring season — and NewsForce247 will check back as the project reaches completion.
That community funding model is worth pausing on, because it is the heart of this story. School athletic upgrades in Ohio are usually paid for one of three ways: a voter-approved bond or levy, a district’s permanent-improvement fund, or private money. Unioto’s baseball project is taking the third route entirely — and doing so, the district says, without touching the general fund that pays teachers, bus drivers and classroom costs. For taxpayers in the Union-Scioto district, the new infield arrives at no public cost; for the donors, it is a visible, permanent gift to a program their families have played in and watched for years.
The phased history matters too. The district’s earlier announcement laid the project out in stages, starting with the highest-wear areas — the mound and home-plate area, the base paths and the walk-ups — before turfing the full infield. Staging a project that way lets a donor group prove the concept, keep fundraising momentum, and avoid leaving a half-finished field if donations slow. This week’s start, covering the infield and additional facility improvements, is the stage that turns those first pieces into a finished surface.
There is a competitive side to it as well. Unioto plays in the Scioto Valley Conference, where several opponents have upgraded their diamonds in recent years. A reliable home field does not win games by itself, but it protects home dates, keeps a pitching staff on its normal rotation instead of a rain-scrambled one, and gives younger players in the program a surface they can practice on earlier in the spring.
Photo: Aesopposea, CC BY-SA