High School Completes Softball Dugouts

Tom Vara sounded relieved.

The athletic director was talking about the softball field. In particular, its newest addition—roofs for the dugouts. No longer would his girls worry about getting soaked or burned between innings.

"The dugouts we really wanted to get because the sun and the rain and stuff like that -- just kind of keep the kids in the best situation possible," he said.

The dugout roofs were completed earlier in the week. They're part of the evolution of Hopatcong's softball diamond from a huge patch of land that for years was left unused.

In spring 2010, the Chiefs unveiled their new park, built by Richie Hoer's Lakeside Construction mostly for free. At the time,

Vara said work on the field still isn't done, however.

"As we slowly started getting more money, it was another fence," he said. "Another piece of the fence. Dugouts. Now if we finish just one more piece of the fence going down the third-base line—that's not done yet. And once we get that we're still looking for a scoreboard. It's just a process. Every year we add another piece to that puzzle."