NEWSOMS—The Newsoms Athletic Field will soon have some new amenities to show off, thanks to the hard work of several volunteers who have pitched in at the ballpark.

Two of those volunteers have coached and their kids play baseball in Newsoms: Jesse Noren of Sedley and Steve Newsome of Newsoms. Together, the men have built a new, two-story press box behind home plate.

The project started three weeks ago, when about eight volunteers built concrete pads for the two dugouts along first and third base sides of the diamond.

“We had a good crew of guys come out,” Noren said. “It was a good thing to see people come out and pitch in for the community.”

The volunteers also poured a concrete pad for the adjoining press box. Newsome said they started constructing the press box building the day after the concrete was hard enough to work on. Noren added that it took about four or five days to frame the building, and he and Newsome put up the roof on Saturday.

On the second floor, two large openings provide a bird’s eye view of the diamond below. Future plans call for installing windows to keep the weather out of the press box during the off-season. The windows will swing up to the ceiling to open.

The first floor has a door that opens into a storage space.

The men started building a 17-step wood staircase on Monday and had it completed by Wednesday morning. The stairs wrap around the building and have a landing most of the way up.

On Wednesday afternoon, Noren and Newsome were hard at work cutting and attaching white vinyl siding around the structure.

“We have a game Friday night,” Noren said. “We’re hoping to be ready. Maybe we’ll have an announcer in here and show it off.”

The last work that needed to be done were to install electrical outlets, lighting, and wiring in the press box. The electrical system will be designed to support a public address system at the ballpark.

“We decided we pretty much needed it,” Noren said of the whole project. “It’ll be nice to have something here for families. The kids will be able to come out here, and maybe even come up in here and watch the game a little bit.”

Newsome added, “We’re always looking to improve, to try and draw more people to the ball games.”