After three years of work, the W.F. West High School Bearcat Stadium field renovation was officially completed Tuesday, May 6, with a ribbon-cutting and field dedication ceremony.
“Today, we proudly dedicate this new ballfield to the Chehalis School District, its students and future generations,” said Chehalis Foundation Vice President and former Bearcat baseball player Robert Pehl Jr. “ … This field symbolizes community, teamwork and opportunity, offering a space to dream, grow and succeed.”
The Chehalis Foundation and the Chehalis School District announced the Bearcat Baseball field renovation project in March 2022. The foundation led the fundraising effort, gathering about 80 percent of the cost of the renovation from donors.
The project included installing professional-grade turf, advanced drainage systems and energy-efficient lighting to allow players the ability to use the field year-round.
The Chehalis School District broke ground on the Bearcat Stadium renovation project during a ceremony on Aug. 28, 2023, and turf installation was completed in October 2024.
W.F. West High School career and technical education (CTE) students contributed by renovating the dugouts, building wooden framing for the concrete structures and installing new metal roofs.
All renovations were completed ahead of Tuesday’s dedication ceremony, which preceded a boys baseball game against Tumwater High School.
“You’ve shown what happens when passion meets purpose and just how strongly connected our Bearcat community truly is,” Chehalis School District Athletic Director Tommy Elder told donors, Chehalis Foundation and Chehalis School District members during the dedication ceremony.
Pehl told the crowd gathered Tuesday to “stay tuned for a very exciting announcement coming in the near future for another project in the Chehalis School District.”
Details about that project were not publicly available Tuesday evening.
In addition to baseball, physical education classes and football and soccer practices can also be held on the turf.
The land where Bearcat Stadium and the high school itself now stands was donated to the school district by Blanche and W.F. West in the late 1940s following an earthquake that caused the old high school to be damaged and condemned.
For more information about the Bearcat Stadium field renovation, visit https://chehalisfoundation.org/project/w-f-west-bearcat-stadium-field-renovation/.
