Softball gets lit in Bloomburg
Bloomburg’s softball stadium lights have come on, and the girls have begun play this month despite a year’s delay because of COVID.
Last week, the Wildcats defeated James Bowie High School 4-1 before a loud and pleased hometown crowd who seemed to be enjoying the lights as well. The event means there’s something to do under the lights in the evenings in Bloomburg because the school is located near the center of town.
The lights were installed in January 2020 and are a first for illuminating an outdoor field on the Bloomburg ISD campus.
Superintendent Bryan Stroman noted at the time that the lights are digital and very efficient. The power required to run them is no more than the power needed to run air conditioning in a home, he was informed. The lights are also firmly in place. “There’s 25 yards of concrete in the holes of those poles,” said Nathan Rider of Artex Electric at the time of installation. “That’s more than I used in the foundation of my house not long ago.”
He added that the poles are rated to withstand 60 mile-per-hour winds.
Another fact is that the lights cover the entire field with an equal level of light. One reason for this is that the lights were leveled and positioned automatically.
“We sent the company our GPS coordinates, and they gave us all the height and directions for every pole and every horizontal and vertical position of each light,” Stroman said.
Some of the lights are even turned to the back in order to partially light the newly created walking path for the use by the community for walking.
“We certainly encourage that,” Stroman said. “We want the community to really use and appreciate what we are doing.
Stroman said the lights also represented a response to the excitement the girls’ softball team created last season by being one game away from the state contest.
“We’d never gone that far in any sport, and I think the board wanted to support the students and the way the community turned out to support us. We now have lights to play under. That makes it possible for working parents and fans to get to the games without having to leave early from work.”