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Austin Celebrates Baseball Field Makeover With Ribbon Cutting

By Barbara Brosher

Posted June 27, 2018

The small Indiana city known for an HIV outbreak hopes a newly renovated baseball field could help rewrite its reputation.

Scott's Lawn Care awarded Austin, Indiana a $50,000 field refurbishment grant after it beat out three other towns for the prize.

Crews spent two weeks overhauling the field at Austin Community Park, which included laying down sod and grading the field for proper drainage.

The city celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday. Eighth grader Braden Watts threw out the first pitch to former Cincinnati Reds Star Eric Davis. Watts says he's most excited about the new grass infield.

"It just looks completely different," Watts says. "It looks really awesome."

This is the first time Scott's used online voting to help determine the winner of the competition. But Vice President and General Manager Josh Peoples says it wasn't just about popularity. The community's story of perseverance also stood out.

"I think it was as much where Austin has been as to where the community wants to go into the future that made it really compelling," he says. "It's not just their sad story over the past few years, but it's this really awesome optimistic view of what it can be."

Davis says the turnout at the ribbon cutting ceremony shows why Austin deserves the positive recognition.

"Sports has a way of building bonds and overcoming hurdles and obstacles," Davis says.

Kids got the chance to participate in a hitting and pitching clinic after the ceremony. The city plans to make additional improvements to the field, including adding more lighting.

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