Bishop Brossart’s 16-year-old baseball and softball project is on second base.
Alexandria’s Catholic high school has raised $2 million of the $4 million needed to add a baseball and softball field at the Mustang Athletic Complex on Gilbert Ridge Road.
“Our school is a village,” Christie Schroder, Brossart’s Director of Advancement, said Wednesday. “It’s a dream come true.”
Schroder said the first dirt could be moved this fall, with completion scheduled for next spring.
“With the completion of the softball and baseball fields, the Mustang Athletic Complex (MAC) will become the premier high school sports complex in the Northern Kentucky area,” Brossart baseball coach and athletic director Ron Verst said in a school video (bit.ly/3YDGM8i). “The fields will not only benefit our softball and baseball teams – it will also benefit our other sports teams.”
When it’s finished, each field will have synthetic turf, a fence similar to Fenway Park’s Green Monster, dugouts, fencing, lighting, a concession area and press box. The land was purchased in 2008.
“We also plan to add additional parking and infrastructure,” Schroder wrote in a news release. “These additions will provide greater safety for our students as they currently do not have a home field and have to drive up to eight miles for practices for games.”
Schroder said the first $2 million was contributed through private donations. Diocese of Covington rules prohibited asking the general public to donate until half the money was in the bank.
Brossart’s boys and girls soccer and football teams play at the Munninghoff Family Stadium on Gilbert Ridge Road, which opened in 2019. Schroder said Northern Kentucky University began using the track this spring and hosted a meet.
Dave Schabell, who broadcasts Brossart football and basketball games online, said people thought baseball and softball facilities would “follow right on in.”
“Well, that was 2019, and there was a lot of speculation,” Schabell said. “But basically it hasn’t been until recently that they put some muscle behind the fundraising and actually saying, ‘OK, let’s get this done and let’s bring our teams home.’”
The Mustang baseball team currently calls St. Mary of the Assumption Parish on South Jefferson Street in Alexandria home, and the softball team plays its games at Alexandria Community Park near Grandview Road.
Longtime Brossart booster Tom Munninghoff wanted to give back because his oldest daughter and five grandkids went through Bishop Brossart, but there is a sad backdrop; Roger Keller Sr., who convinced him to become a Mustang, died in a traffic accident in March in Marco Island, Florida.
“I feel he’s right over my shoulder,” Munninghoff said. “He always said, ‘It’s for the kids’.”
For more information or questions, email Schroder at cschroder@bishopbrossart.org or call the school office at 859-635-2108. Visit bishopbrossart.org/mustang-athletic-complex to donate.
