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Brittany Dugan knows how rough the EOM Athletic Association baseball field at Front and Moore streets can be. Last spring, the pitcher-second baseman got a nice little bruise under her chin after getting smacked in the face with a ball that had bounced off the field.
In April, when EOM Athletic Association Vice President Mike Townsend told the 12-year-old about the third annual Briggs & Stratton Diamonds in the Rough youth essay program, where she could get money to refurbish the EOM field, Dugan picked up her pen and started writing.
She was a finalist in the national online vote that determined the grand-prize winner, who received $20,000 toward field improvements, as well as a baseball clinic from Hall-of-Famers Lou Brock and Carlton Fisk.
Although Dugan, of Second and Moore streets, wasn’t named the grand-prize winner, she knows the $5,000 she won by placing in the top 16 can go a long way towards helping improve her home turf.
"It feels really good because the baseball field really needed it," Dugan said. "There are a lot of dangerous conditions on the field."
June 13, a representative from Briggs & Stratton came to the EOM field to present Dugan with a super-sized check, which will be used for field improvements. Local television stations were present, giving the Christopher Columbus Charter School student some time on the tube. Monday afternoon, Dugan was working on her acceptance speech.
In her winning, 300-word essay, the athlete, whose favorite Philadelphia Phillie is Pat Burrell, wrote about areas of the field in need of improvement.
"Our ballpark does not have proper dugouts or a working batting cage for us to practice in," she wrote. "Our infield needs work. It’s not flat and we’re always tripping or falling while running around the bases or catching a ball. Our outfield is even worse.
"We don’t have grass all over it! It’s almost a full dirt field. It’s bald and more uneven than the infield."
Now that the money is there, Dugan said she would like to see it be used to get a sprinkler system to help the grass grow, a roof for the batting cage so the balls won’t fly over the fence and more dirt to help flatten the field.
"I want to thank everyone for voting for me," Dugan said of her 18,000-plus votes.
