This past month we were pleased to open The Douglas Marino Community Baseball Field. In the 135 year history of the school, we have not had a formal baseball field. The site where the field is located was once a cow pasture and students would play in the long grass while hoping the ball would not roll down the hill out of sight.

The construction of the field was a community effort with over 1,000 tons of fill coming from the construction site at Beverly High School. The leveling of the field was donated by Windover Construction and Cory Fisher. Danny Spencer Associates of Beverly provided top soil and getting the field ready for grass. Spencer also planted the large rock which now marks the site. And Reliable Fencing provided the backstop and safety fencing at cost to complete the layout.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the generous support of one family and their community – The Marino Family. The Marino’s son, Douglas, is a current student in our CCC Program and they wanted to honor him with some visible tribute to his progress and hard work. This generous family went to their neighbors, friends, and family in Marblehead and was able to raise nearly $35,000 for this naming opportunity. The generosity of their community spread to our school community and now we are all able to benefit from this community field.

We also received generous donations from ASL Sports and the parents at CCC/BSD, who raised money in 2010 to support this new field.

The field is located adjacent to our accessible playground and now allows our students and children with disabilities in our community to have the same opportunities as other children.

Our many thanks go out to The Marino Family and everyone who supported this unique project. This type of generosity makes more of an impact than people realize – Thank you.

Thanks for reading,
Mark Carlson