Eagles baseball celebrates opening of new press box

The baseball field at Oak Mountain High School has long had a unique feature to it, or lack thereof.

The field had only bleachers surrounding the fence behind home plate, but never a press box like most fields at the high school level and higher have.

Until now. On Thursday, March 24, the Oak Mountain baseball program had a ceremony after the varsity game to honor those past and present who helped make the field’s new press box a reality.

When Derek Irons took the head coaching job for the Oak Mountain baseball program seven years ago, he admits he didn’t realize how big of a deal that was going to be.

But a few years ago, a group of parents in the baseball program set out to change that and organized a group called GoomFI: Goom for the rallying cry “Go Oak Mountain” and FI for facility improvements.

“Over the last three years, our parents and the community raised over $300,000, and we’ve invested all of that into facility improvements,” Irons said.

The baseball field got a new padded backstop and installed a warning track along the outfield fence a couple years ago, but this project was the one that people have been talking about for years, essentially since the school opened in 1999.

“This was a tremendous effort over several years by hundreds of people: parents in our program, people within our school and community,” Irons said.

Following Oak Mountain’s 10-6 win over Gadsden City on March 24, Oak Mountain recognized several people on the field, including program sponsors and donors, along with the GoomFI members.

“This was a tremendous fundraising effort,” Irons said. “It was a night to celebrate all that effort and work and time that’s gone into it.”

The press box was built off site, with construction beginning in September. Once it was completed, it was delivered and installed on campus. It was fully functional for the first time when Oak Mountain played Vestavia Hills on March 14.

Other than simply catching up when it comes to facilities and amenities, the new press box allowed the baseball program to upgrade its sound equipment. Without a press box, temporary sound equipment had to be set up and taken down before and after every event. With a press box comes the ability to permanently install high quality equipment.

There is also a room in the press box dedicated to Oak Mountain Media, a production program at the high school. There are plans to broadcast many of the baseball games and use that time and space as an extension of the program’s teaching.

Oak Mountain was able to utilize its new press box for a little more than a month, before finishing the season with a 21-14 record. The Eagles missed the playoffs by a single game in Class 7A, Area 5.

The Eagles dropped their first four games of the season but quickly picked it up, playing good baseball led by a strong pitching staff. Seniors Davis Gillespie and Maddox Macrory have been the steadying force, with the likes of Matthew Heiberger, Kevin Jasinski, Nick McCord and a host of others holding the opposition down.