As part of a massive project this summer, Morgan Academy is installing brand new baseball and softball fields.

The project started on the last day of the 2014-2015 school year and is plodding along this summer. The fields will sit adjacent to one another on the left side of the school’s main entrance, near the Senators newer gymnasium.

“It’s just one of the many improvements that the school has in mind and it plans on doing in the future,” said Morgan Academy Athletic Director Jake Wingo. “It’ll be a state of the art facility, and it will definitely upgrade our school as a whole.”

Wingo said the school’s softball field was in very bad shape and that the baseball field was outdated. One of the major problems last year was that both teams had numerous games rained out.

Part of that was due to a rain-filled portion of spring, but it also didn’t help that the fields weren’t efficiently draining all the water off.

Jamie Averitt, who is overseeing the project for the school, said that won’t be a problem on the new fields.

“Most of the focus [for the project] was on drainage… We missed 15 ballgames this year probably due to weather,” Averitt said. “These fields have a 1 percent slope from the infield to the outfield so as soon as it rains it’ll run off.”

The fields will also feature a Southern Red Rock infield, which will help when Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate with the school’s athletics schedule.

“It doesn’t stick to your feet. It kind of absorbs water,” Averitt said.

On the softball field, Averitt sodded the portion of the infield between the dugouts and playing surface to make the area more aesthetically pleasing.

The outfield of both fields will be enclosed by a solid sheet metal fence, which replaces what was previously a chain link fence.

The dugouts will be more spacious and will probably be a big hit with players.

Averitt estimated the new dugouts are 10 feet longer and about 5 feet deeper than their predecessors.

Morgan Academy baseball coach Jeremy Carter said his players can’t wait to get on the field.

“The kids are excited just like we are,” Carter said. “It’s something new and they want to be the first team to ever play on it. It gives them something that is theirs that is new, that they can take care of and they can brag about.”

Averitt said the softball field is 90 percent finished, while the baseball field is about 60 percent done.

The major tasks left for the softball field are to finish the fence, put up a backstop net and install the tops on the dugouts.

The baseball field still needs the fence, to be sodded, to have the tops installed on the dugouts and to have the nets put on the backstop.

Averitt said after the fields are complete work will start on adding batting cages, bleachers and a walkway for chairs.

Morgan typically plays its home baseball and softball games at the same time and in the past the softball and baseball fields were on opposing sides of the school’s football field. Parents with players on both teams had trouble watching both games and usually couldn’t.

That won’t be as big a problem anymore.

Parents will be able to walk between games easily with the new facilities, allowing them to see two games at once.

“Before they were so far apart it was hard to watch both games and parents that had kids at both games, it was hard for them to do,” Wingo said. “It is a lot more convenient having them there together.”

The new baseball field sits about 10 feet from where the previous one was, Averitt said. Meanwhile, a portion of the softball field runs into an area that was used for parking in previous years. Averitt said about 20 parking spaces were lost in the project.

A final completion date for the project was not yet known.