Ozark High School to dedicate baseball field

Ozark School District will name its newly revamped high school baseball field in honor of a longtime coach during a March 24 ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The event will start at 3:30 p.m. before the first pitch on the field at 1350 W. Bluff Dr. in Ozark.

The project, expected to cost $1.8 million once completed, is from the $19 million bond issue approved by voters in 2022.

Phillip Dowden, director of communications and marketing, said the improvements will allow the district to host district playoffs or other Missouri State High School Activities Association events.

Most upgrades, including the installation of artificial turf, have been completed at the field adjacent to Ozark High School. However, dirt and site work remain.

“The turf is ready to go. Both dugouts have been painted; a press box has been painted,” said Ritchie Fretwell, executive director of operations, in a recent Board of Education meeting.

Fretwell said other work involves seating, battling cages, a drainage ditch near the third-base line, and concrete work near the entrance.

At a Feb. 26 meeting, the board voted in favor of naming the facility. It will be called Mike Essick Field because of Essick’s long tenure and impact on the program and student athletes.

“With the future of Ozark baseball, we are making a huge investment in this, and we want to set the legacy,” said Superintendent Lori Wilson in the meeting. “Mike Essick is a legacy, and naming the field now creates a direct connection between the program’s history and its future, and it honors the individuals who helped build the foundation that made today’s investment possible.”

Wilson said a naming committee also considered Mark Wheeler, a former baseball coach and building principal who hired Essick. She said both helped shape the program.

Reached by phone in early March, Essick said he was deeply moved by the naming honor.

“It’s just such an honor, especially with the new facility. It is absolutely gorgeous,” he said.

Essick, who grew up in Highlandville, was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. He coached many winning seasons, and his teams won six district championships, more than a dozen Central Ozark Conference crowns and two state championships.

“I got into coaching because I had a passion for sports, and I loved working with young people,” he said. “I was fortunate to get a job at a school district that had some amazing assistant coaches and some really great players. As a coach, really you don’t win anything without great players.”