Complex Board to consider letting SouthArk teams use fields

Recreation Complex: The El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex Board is continuing to work towards a major expansion and improvement project at the Champagnolle facility.
Recreation Complex: The El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex Board is continuing to work towards a major expansion and improvement project at the Champagnolle facility.

The El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex Board will convene for a regular meeting at noon today in the South Arkansas Community College gymnasium on the college’s west campus, 300 S. West Ave.

Board members will meet with SouthArk officials to discuss a proposed agreement to use the recreation complex on Champagnolle Road for the college’s new baseball and softball teams.

SouthArk is adding men’s baseball and women’s softball to its athletic programming for the 2021 - 2022 school year.

Greg Harrison, chairman of the Complex Board, previously said that talks about a potential agreement between the complex and SouthArk had been ongoing as the college considered the addition of baseball and softball teams.

The SouthArk Board of Trustees voted in March to seek membership into the National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association Division II.

The men’s and women’s basketball programs are already members of the division. The division allows for athletic scholarships.

Complex Board members have said partnering with SouthArk for the use of the Champagnolle Road facility could be mutually beneficial for both parties, particularly with efforts to boost activity at the complex.

The complex is primarily geared toward youth athletics and has facilities that also accommodate adults, including church and men’s softball and baseball leagues.

There are eight softball and baseball fields and two new soccer fields that are expected to be ready for play in the fall.

The new soccer fields and the completion of four baseball/softball fields, all on the south end of the complex, are part of the first phase of a master renovation and improvement plan for the facility.

The second phase, which is still being drafted, calls for a baseball field to accommodate older teens and adults.

The El Dorado High School baseball and softball fields are also located at the complex.

Area Pee Wee football teams also occasionally hold practices at the complex.

The purpose of the master plan is to help boost activity and revenue at the complex by drawing more and larger tournaments.

Allowing SouthArk to use the facility for its collegiate programs would lend itself to that purpose, complex board members have said.

Also on the complex board’s agenda for today is a proposal from the local Church League to use the baseball/softball fields on Friday evenings for the remainder of the spring and summer.

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