Alcoa in running to host Diamonds
It appears Alcoa High School could host the Tennessee Diamonds in the professional softball team’s first year in Blount County.
I talked to Lady Tornadoes softball coach Paul Talley last week and he said he’d heard from Diamonds general manager Sarah Fekete about using the field, generally considered one of the county’s best, this summer. An item has also appeared on the Alcoa City Board of Education’s Tuesday agenda (below) asking the board to “approve usage of softball field.”
| Finding the Diamonds’ mine |
| Alcoa City Board of Ed. Agenda, Tuesday Jan. 19 |
| VIII. Facilities and Finance, 3. Approve usage of softball field |
Talley said he thought Fekete had several other sites in mind but neither Maryville College nor Blount County Schools, which would include William Blount and Heritage, said they had been contacted about using their fields. Maryville, Alcoa and Blount County Parks and Rec director Joe Huff said the Diamonds only asked him about playing several games at Sandy Springs Park the week of the Smoky Mountain Classic, a nationally recognized men’s slowpitch softball tournament in July.
No matter where they play, the Diamonds will need to bring their own bleachers. Alcoa’s field seats just 150, well below the required league minimum of 1,000.
“Our need really is for the seating,” Fekete said last week. “If you got a couple extra million dollars you want to throw in for the bleachers, I’ll take it.”
Things should become clearer Tuesday night.