Live Like Lou Field in Emmerling Park getting major upgrades

Larry Rich might call it a field of dreams, given that it's taken more than two years to realize a $275,000 project scoring major upgrades at a Lower Valley ballfield.

“It's been a long time coming,” said Rich, co-vice president of the Fox Chapel Area Baseball Softball Association. In his league, there are 300 youths who will benefit from work kicking off this year at the newly named “Live Like Lou Field” at Emmerling Park in Indiana Township.

Primarily, the project will bring lights to the field off of Route 910. Work will transform the pony/colt field into a multi-use playing area.

There will be a new scoreboard, dugouts and paved walkway to ADA-accessible bleachers.

“This is about giving the kids the chance to play on a nice, safe field,” Rich said. “This gives the spectators a wonderful view and keeps the kids on the field longer.”

The new field should be unveiled next spring in time for baseball and softball seasons.

Indiana Supervisors approved the project in December 2016. Township Manager Dan Anderson said there has been interest expressed over the years from many baseball groups to have a lighted field, but the project was too expensive for the township to foot.

Fundraising got a major boost when the Pirates Charities and the O'Hara-based Live Like Lou organization each donated $50,000. Private donations brought in another $75,000, leaving about $100,000 still needed. There are naming opportunities for bases, foul poles, fences, bleachers and lighting.

The Live Like Lou group raises money for awareness of Lou Gehrig's disease. Suzanne Alexander and her late husband, Neil, founded the group and they worked together on the idea, hoping to instill in children Gehrig's mission of tireless perseverance. Neil died from ALS in 2015.

“We are especially thrilled the Pittsburgh Pirates joined Live Like Lou as lead sponsors to help raise awareness of ALS and keep Lou Gehrig's amazing legacy alive in our community, for all boys and girls who play ball,” Alexander said.

Anderson expects minimal impact on neighboring properties from the lighting. The field is the last one in the park and tucked into the hillside.

Rich said better fields should lead to a safer and more enjoyable experience to anyone using the space.

“Right now, there are no lights, no scoreboard and the dugouts are a bench,” he said. New dugouts will be screened in with solid rooftops.

The lights will mean longer playing time in the summer, and into fall when the clocks turn back.

“We'll be proud to host tournaments,” he said. “This will make it a premier field.”

For more information or to donate, visit fcabsa.com.

Tawnya Panizzi is the Tribune-Review reporter.