Newberry’s future tied to America’s favorite pastime

Nations Park baseball complex underway

As the City of Newberry officially kicked off the construction of Nations Baseball Park, Lou Presutti, the director the organization backing the project, thanked the many contributors.  Presutti told the gathering of several hundred area residents and officials about how the 16 plus ballpark project would impact the lives of youngsters who would come from across the nation.

Newberry has officially begun its ambitious project of creating a major baseball park expected to gain national recognition.

Over 500 people attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Newberry’s Nations Park baseball complex on Friday.

“It was absolutely marvelous,” City manager Keith Ashby said. “We’re still on cloud nine about it.”

Ashby said he thought the staff did a “fantastic job” of setting up the event. Balloons lined the mile-long route to the onsite ceremony at the corner of U.S. Highway 27/41 and SW 30^th Avenue in Newberry.

There was a baseball diamond theme and plenty of food courtesy of the event’s 20 sponsors from all over the county.

“It was just unreal,” Ashby said. “There was so much food, yet the public ate it all.”

Officials from the city, county and state attended the ceremony for the park, which has gained attention due to its intended size, 16 fields, and new design, turf in-fields. Alachua County and Newberry City Commissioners were present, as well as Newberry Mayor Harry Nichols, State Senator Steve Oelrich, and State Representatives Elizabeth Porter and Keith Perry.  Delivering congratulatory remarks on behalf of United State Representative Cliff Stearns was his legislative aide, Jean Clough.

After Nichols made opening remarks at 2 p.m., the Newberry High School Band of Pride performed the national anthem.

Another notable moment was when Lou Persutti, one of the directors of Nations Baseball Park, LLC, gave what Ashby referred to as a “heart-rending” speech.

“It all comes from the passion of the game, the traditional values that baseball has in the very marrow of this country,” Persutti said in an interview later. “To be part of the beginning, the genesis of it all, is a very heart-warming thing.”

Persutti said the groundbreaking ceremony “exceeded all expectations.”

“It was certainly a great day for youth baseball in the country,” he said.

Ashby made a few final remarks about the process of beginning this project called “How we got here” before the actual groundbreaking. About 30 people had shovels in hand to turn the soil in the official groundbreaking.

The entire groundbreaking ceremony lasted about two hours, but the baseball complex’s “journey” has just begun. Ashby said construction will start April 1 and the anticipated completion date is the second week of December.

“This was great, marvelous,” he said. “But the grand opening ceremony, probably next spring, is going to be huge…fireworks and everything.”