Northeast Alabama Community College (NACC) will hold a grand opening celebration and field naming ceremony for the college’s new softball facility on Friday, November 8, 2024, at 10:00 a.m.

The public is invited to attend this momentous occasion. The women’s softball stadium is a state-of-the-art facility outfitted with an artificial turf field, LED lighting, a video scoreboard, and grandstands that will seat 400 spectators, plus ample room for fans to sit or stand down each foul line. NACC estimates the stadium will accommodate nearly 600 fans. Also on the grounds is an indoor training facility with locker rooms, batting cages, pitching lanes, office space for coaches, a nutrition bar, and more.

“We are very pleased and excited about the opening of this stadium,” stated NACC President Dr. David Campbell. “There already is much excitement about our Women’s Softball Team. Their league competition begins in the Spring of 2025, and they will be playing and training at one of the finest and most modern women’s softball facilities in the South. We are so proud to offer this to our students and community. Come out and take part in our dedication day ceremony, which will be a very happy occasion!”

Dr. Campbell also included a special word of thanks to those who supported this project, especially Alabama Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, who is the Speaker of the House. “We will be naming the stadium after our area’s own Speaker of the House Representative Nathaniel Ledbetter in honor of his leadership for our area, the region, and the state,” said Dr. Campbell.

“It will be named ‘Nathaniel Ledbetter Stadium’ with the playing field itself called “Mustang Field”. This honor to Speaker Ledbetter was authorized on our initiative by Chancellor Jimmy Baker, the Alabama Community College System (ACCS), and the ACCS Board of Trustees. Speaker Ledbetter has been very instrumental in obtaining funds for us to finance this stadium and has been a tremendous supporter in the Alabama Legislature of education and the Alabama Community College System in particular.”

Mustangs head coach Joe Guthrie is anticipating the opening of this facility and wants to thank all who had a hand in making this happen. “We appreciate the efforts of Dr. Campbell, Nathaniel Ledbetter, and many others for making this extraordinary softball project happen,” says Guthrie. “It would not happen without them. The NACC Softball team will be proud custodians of this gift.”

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Coach Guthrie was hired at Northeast in 2023 and hit the ground running. Guthrie came to Northeast boasting an impressive coaching resume with nearly 20 years of experience. Most recently, he was an Assistant at Texas A&M University. Before that, he served as the Head Coach at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.  He was also Head Coach at Marion Military Institute, a fellow member of the Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC), and the National Junior College Athletic Associate (NJCAA), which Northeast will play.

Coach Guthrie and his staff have spent the last year recruiting and developing players to construct the first softball team in NACC’s history. He is looking forward to the future at Northeast and is ready for the Mustangs to begin competition on their home field.

In August of this year, NACC named Jimmy Kolaitis its first full-time Athletic Director. Kolaitis also serves as an assistant to Coach Guthrie on the softball team. Kolaitis is an Alabama native and returned to his home state after spending the last four years at Arizona State University as an assistant softball coach.

Kolaitis brings more than 20 years of experience to NACC Athletics. He also has been a member of the National Women’s Team coaching staff for the last three years, winning gold medals in 2022 and 2023 (15U). Most recently, Kolaitis was on staff for the 2024 silver medal squad at the WBSC World Championship.

“These are exciting times at Northeast Alabama Community College,” said Kolaitis. “This started with the vision of Dr. Campbell and has been supported by so many people. We are grateful for the support from our community, especially that of Alabama Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter. This will be one of the best softball facilities in the state of Alabama.”

McKee & Associates provided architecture services for the Women’s Softball Facility, and the stadium construction project was done by Sports Turf. Local contractor P&C Construction completed the training facility.

Courtesy of Mountain Valley News.