A plan for the baseball and softball teams of a regional Penn State campus to call Butler home is moving ahead.
The members of the City of Butler Parks, Recreation Grounds, and Facilities Authority engaged in lengthy discussions Monday night about a proposal that would see the teams based out of the Greater Allegheny/McKeesport campus play in Butler this year. 18 baseball games would take place at Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park.
The Authority first approved a lease agreement deal with the City of Butler that would allow for the use of the field at Father Marinaro Park for 10 softball games to be played on five days beginning March 21st. The city would be compensated through using Authority AARP workers for 100 hours of city park maintenance tasks.
When an authority member expressed concern about if the field meets collegiate softball standards, a backup plan was also approved that would allow for games to be played at the Center Township Elementary field. A walkthrough of the Father Marinaro field is expected to take place before Butler City Council would vote to approve the plan.
Penn State Greater Allegheny would pay the authority nearly $4,000 to play the games in Butler as part of this deal. They previously played about half of their baseball games at Michelle Krill field in recent years.