Tuesday the Atlanta Braves and Truist celebrated baseball and softball facility upgrades at two Western North Carolina locations – Mountain Heritage High School in Burnsville, NC, and Elks Lodge Field in Waynesville, NC – as part of the Braves Park Projects Together with Truist initiative. In partnership with Truist, this program provides local parks and recreation centers, schools, and youth organizations with field and ballpark improvements to level the playing field and increase playability, safety, and accessibility across Braves Country. This year, Braves Park Projects Together with Truist aimed to support Western North Carolina baseball and softball facilities that were affected by the impact of Hurricane Helene.
The celebration at Mountain Heritage High School took place yesterday morning, bringing together the Atlanta Braves Foundation, Truist, and Mountain Heritage High School and featured student-athletes from the high school and key representatives across organizations and the community. The event led off with a performance by the Mountain Heritage High School band before going to opening remarks by Mountain Heritage High School Athletic Director Franklin Cox; Atlanta Braves Vice President of Community Affair and Atlanta Braves Foundation Executive Director Danielle Bedasse; Truist Asheville Market President Aaron Slate; and Yancey County Schools Superintendent Kathy Amos. Following remarks, Mountain Heritage High School athlete Carter Bennett threw the ceremonial first pitch on the field to commemorate the special occasion. The Atlanta Braves Foundation and Truist teams also distributed gifts to Mountain Heritage baseball and softball players. Truist teammates and the Atlanta Braves Foundation then participated in a joint volunteer project onsite, which included painting the dugouts and scoreboard posts, as well as planting a ceremonial magnolia tree.
Mountain Heritage High School is the sixth overall organization to be supported by the Braves Park Projects Together with Truist initiative. Facility upgrades included fencing repairs and repositioning of the outfield softball fence, as well as installing an outfield windscreen for the baseball field, windscreen overlays for the softball field, a pitching mound, L-screen nets, batting cage nets, and scoreboards.
