New Bakersfield ball fields and sports complex being constructed

Construction on Bakersfield School’s new sports complex and park is currently in full swing, and the Lions baseball and softball teams are gearing up to make quite a roar this season on their new home turf.

Construction on the ballfields has created quite the buzz of excitement, but the final project will include much more than that. Superintendent Amy Padgett gave the Times a preview of what’s to come - a well rounded recreation complex that will benefit a wide variety of student athletes and community members with a public walking trail, covered pavilion, community use ball field, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, indoor batting cages, concession stand and more. Better yet, the multi-million dollar project is funded completely through an insurance payout the school received last year, meaning there won’t be one cent of taxpayer money used for its completion.

The new complex on a new piece of property

The new 31-acre property is located near the school at the corner of O Highway and County Road 593 in Bakersfield. The school gained ownership of it last year in a “straight-across” trade with former property owners Chris and Lacee Bales, who agreed to give the school the parcel of land in exchange for the 19-acre former Pride Park location in town. Padgett says the new location is much better suited to withstand dramatic weather patterns, especially flooding.

“When you look at the topography of the land, it has an uphill section, a slant and then a downhill section,” she said. “But it’s all on the same piece of property.”

The downhill side of the complex will house the baseball and softball fields, along with a large multipurpose building that serves several functions.  

“Inside the building will be a concession stand, bathrooms, storage space, indoor batting cages and an indoor, rubber-floored, full-sized basketball court,” Padgett explained. “We have a lot of kids, especially in elementary and middle school, who participate in [basketball] leagues in West Plains. They’ll be able to do that right here now. And it’ll be available to use for other community events and practices too,” she said. 

The lower section of the property also features the new walking track.

“Down at the old ball field, we had a walking track that ran around the edge of [the park]. The new walking track will be shaped as a traditional high school, quarter-mile track, so it can double as both a community-use walking trail and also a space for our track and cross country teams to train,” she said. Depending on how the project’s other elements progress financially, the track may be covered in asphalt or left with a concrete surface material, she said. 

“We also envision being able to use the track for events like Bakersfest, where the vendors can be set up inside and people can walk around - and for so many other community efforts.”

On top of the hill, an open air pavilion will be built similar to the one at the previous park location, along with a big playground, bathrooms, a basic outdoor basketball court and a smaller baseball field that can be used for t-ball games or other community games. 

“So, if someone has a team, and they want to practice, they’ll be able to practice there. And those who organize little league teams over the summer, they’ll have a place to practice there,” Padgett said. “Or if someone is hosting a family reunion at the pavilion and wants to have a family softball or ragball game, they’d be welcome to use the field, which would be right there handy.”

The school allows the pavilion to be rented on a first-come, first-reservation basis, with a fee of $50 to cover utilities, cleaning and other associated incidental costs that may arise from its use. That fee is waived for non-profit events or charity benefits held at the park.

Padgett says the ball fields are expected to be completed by spring, and it is hoped the whole park project will be complete by this fall.

The reason for the new build

The decision to build a new sports complex came last summer when the school’s insurance company began a discussion with Padgett and the school board regarding the piece of school-owned property at Pride Park, which sits along the banks of the Bennett’s Bayou creek. The low-lying spot is susceptible to flooding, and Ozark County has seen some wild weather the past few years, leading to consistent damage. 

The school submitted its first catastrophic claim at Pride Park in 2017, after the county sustained what was called a “1,000-year flood.” That high-water event ripped out fences, destroyed the road through the park and left the fields a muddy mess in Bakersfield, while other parts of the county saw even more damage with multiple homes and buildings washed away. 

After that flood, the school built a berm in the vegetation at Pride Park along the creek among several large, mature trees. But after the storm, the creek channel changed significantly. “And it flooded on our side of the creek way more often than it used to,” Padgett said. Still, the berm system was successful in helping mitigate damage at the fields during high water events over an eight year period. But, when a massive tornado tore through Bakersfield on March 14, 2025, it left a nearly 3/4-mile wide path of destruction in its wake. Along with the dozens of homes and buildings it destroyed, thousands of trees were ripped from the earth. Among the trees that were pulled up were the large,  deep rooted ones in the berm at Pride Park. 

The community came together and worked hard to begin cleaning the property up, but a month after the tornado, a massive flood brought Bennett’s Bayou back up, drowning the fields and causing further damage. A month after that, it happened again.

Due to the frequency of flooding, the insurance company told the school it would no longer qualify for basic insurance claims unless the ball parks were moved out of the floodplain. Officials were offered the option to relocate the park to higher ground in exchange for the insurance company maximizing the existing claim, as well as allowing the school to continue being eligible for its insurance coverage. The school opted to move the park for those reasons. 

Decided against FEMA aid

After the storm, school officials explored the option of working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to secure additional funding to expand the ball field project. However, that option required the school to pay for construction up-front and provide a large local match, with school’s total costs nearing $2 million. “We just don’t have that kind of money,” Padgett said. Instead, the school opted to move forward using insurance proceeds only. 

The insurance company provided the school with approximately $3.5 million in funds for the damaged fields, which is being used to fully fund the new park project.

With construction underway and major components already taking shape, school officials say the new complex represents a long-term investment in both student athletics and the broader Bakersfield community. 

It will be a new home where generations of Lions will continue to make late-night memories on the ballfields, children will climb and play on the new playground, games will echo across the basketball courts, families will gather and laugh under the covered pavilion and, ultimately, the space will serve as another location for the Bakersfield community to continue to come together with the small-town pride and community spirit its known for.