CARRINGTON — In hindsight, 2020 probably wasn't the best time to begin a groundbreaking-type project but Randy Hooey and the Carrington Parks and Recreation Department dove in head first anyway.

"This project — we probably couldn't have started it at a worse time," said Hooey, Carrington's park board director. "It was right when COVID started and costs were beginning to increase but we're trying to do what we can do and it's really coming along. There is a lot of exciting things happening in our park."

Nearly three years ago, Hooey and the Carrington Park Board approved a renovation project of the baseball and softball fields at Carrington's City Park. The team broke ground two years ago and have been steadily progressing toward the end goal ever since.

Most recently, in May, the board was granted $75,000 via a Garrison Diversion grant to help assist with the updates and renovations.

"We just applied for the Garrison Diverson grant based off of our baseball and softball diamond renovations," Hooey said. "It's a matching grant so we just applied for what we had left on the diamonds and it was enough to max out the matching funds."

While Hooey acknowledged the Garrison Diversion grant as "a good chunk of money," he said it is really a small drop in the bucket when looking at the final cost of a project that has taken more than two years to complete.

"We've been fundraising for three years on this," Hooey said. "We've had other grants and a lot of donations. Everything that has already been done has nothing to do with this grant — it's everything moving forward."

Taking it back two years, the most pressing need Hooey and the park board saw was the safety hazards that were surrounding the fields themselves. Volunteers replaced the fencing around the three existing fields and added mesh-netting backstops. Workers are also in the process of constructing dugouts for the fields.

"At the same time that we were talking about updating the fencing we decided to take it a step further and change the directions of the diamonds," Hooey said. "We also added a Cal Ripken-sized diamond with a grass infield on it."

The Cal Ripken field has been constructed but it is not ready to compete on. Hooey said that by changing the direction of the diamonds, the park has adopted more of a complex-type feel — something he hopes will attract teams from around the state.

"We want to be able to host state tournaments and we want the opportunities to host in-season tournaments," Hooey said. "We want to capitalize on our central location within the state and invite teams from around the state to come play each other.

"Teams on the eastern side of the state don't get to play teams from the western side of the state. It just doesn't happen because of economics and geography so our goal is continue hosting and grow the size of the tournaments we are hosting."

Hooey said the fields are large enough for all of the levels of play to compete on. The uniform size will aid in the ease of hosting a tournament as teams would be able to compete on two or even three fields at a time.

While things are coming around nicely out at the complex, there is still a ways to go before the project will be considered as completed.

"We would like to have everything done by the fall of 2023," Hooey said. "But unfortunately with costs driving up, that could get pushed out a little ways. You just never know because everything that gets done is dependent on money. Also, most of our work has been done by volunteers. Those things are really the driving factors."

Aside from the renovations to the field themselves, the board has approved the construction of a new concession stand and bathrooms. Grand stands and batting cages have also made the construction to-do list.

Over at the American Legion baseball field, fans can also expect to see a new scoreboard.

"I think with anything, facilities is a big contributor to success because it creates a lot of interest and excitement within the programs," Hooey said. "When you have nice things it really seems like that excitement drives up as a community, as a participant, as a coach and as a parent.

"You have more drive to come out and play. The drive for success is more easily attained when you have more numbers and excitement in your program."

Carrington currently has approximately 180 kids participating in the summer T-ball, softball or American Legion programs.

"We have a lot of kids out there right now and that's great to see," Hooey said. "We definitely want to continue to maintain and grow those numbers."