Paducah Tilghman High School

Paducah Tilghman Principal Deatrik Kinney said he has been involved in the effort to upgrade the softball team’s facilities since he first joined the district as an athletic director in 2021.

“All those talks started some years ago and I got with [Superintendent Donald] Shively to discuss some of the complaints I was having from parents about the previous softball field, just saying we needed to do something to make sure our girls have a nice facility,” Kinney said. “The headrunner of it was Dr. Shively. He saw those concerns and got with the board of education, met with parents, talked with the community, with the city, and finally got the ball rolling.”

Kinney added that Chad Jezik — director of districtwide operations for Paducah Public Schools — also played an instrumental role in the project’s funding and completion.

Kinney said John Sheppard Field was not up to the standard the softball team deserved in a variety of ways, including trouble keeping the field secured, water holding up and a lack of bathrooms. Kate Wade, a senior at the high school and a center fielder who has played Tilghman softball since fifth grade, echoed that sentiment.

“We didn’t have running water at our old field, so anytime that we would have to go to the bathroom, we would have to get into a car — even if it was in the middle of the game — and drive to a bathroom if we didn’t have porta potties there,” Wade said. “If it would rain, the outfield would hold a ton of water, and we would have to drill holes into the ground ourselves to be able to soak the water out with sponges.”

Both Wade and junior Madelyn Boling — who plays second base and has played Tilghman softball since sixth grade — expressed excitement and relief at the new facility being completed.

“It just felt like it wasn’t real,” Boling said of seeing the completed complex. “We’ve been waiting for something like that for so long, and finally seeing it done really just meant a lot to everyone. It just felt like we were finally getting cared about, and we did have to prove ourselves for them to put that amount of effort into it. All of our parents were so supportive trying to get us this field. So I think all that influence really made the school realize that we needed something bigger and better.”

Wade said she feels female sports often don’t get the kind of attention and resources that male sports do, and a significant project like this is a morale boost to both players and spectators.

“Our football team had new turf put in a couple years ago, and our baseball team plays at Brooks Stadium,” Wade said. “We never really got as many people that wanted to come and watch us play, because we didn’t have comfortable seating for people — we had tiny bleachers. And now when they come to see us, it looks like we’re one of the big teams of our school.”

Kinney said it’s important to make sure all programs at Paducah Tilghman get the resources they deserve so students are given an equal opportunity to succeed.

“I would always say, if you look good and you’ve got nice things, you can play good,” Kinney said. “You can see that when our girls just beat McCracken County for the first time in school history last night. All of that comes along with support.”

Mikey Myers — softball head coach at Paducah Tilghman High School — expressed gratitude to Shively, Kinney, Athletic Director Jay Burgett, the board of education and players and their parents for making the project possible. He described the facility as outstanding, and said it felt surreal to finally be able to call it the team’s homefield. He said the first practice on the new field on April 14 went well, and felt almost like a reset for the season.

“It gives these girls the mentality of, ‘This has happened, all of these people believe in us,’ ” Myers said. “You want to protect your home field, and we’re going to try to do that. They’re excited. They’re just happy to go out there and play on it. I hope it snowballs into success, and it’s the right time of the year to get momentum going.”