Fans attending this weekend's Ryan Lemmon Showcase baseball games in Irvine will notice a new state of the art scoreboard at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.
The inning-by-inning scoreboard was tested on Wednesday and will be in use for Friday's two games. Over the weekend, the Showcase will feature seniors from eight leagues.
Guy Lemmon (right) and Woodbridge baseball coach Tim Murray in front of the new scoreboard on Wednesday.
TIM BURT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
On Saturday, the Sea View League faces the Empire League at 1 p.m. and at 4:30 p.m. the Trinity League faces the Sunset League.
There will be home run hitting contests between the games on both days.
The scoreboard is 30 feet wide and 40 feet tall and includes a 12 foot wide by 9 and a half foot video screen. There is also a clock on top of the scoreboard and an indicator which displays speed on pitches, which will be tracked by a radar gun.
The Ryan Lemmon Foundation made a major donation for the scoreboard, which is being installed at a cost of approximately $60,000, Lemmon said. The cost would have been much higher had it not been for numerous donations, Lemmon added.
"The scoreboard that was here had gotten to the point where nobody could read it," Lemmon said. "One thing led to another and we had the good fortune that a philanthropist gave the foundation us some money and a challenge grant and we raised some money at a dinner."
The facility on 285 East Yale Loop in irvine, off of Barranca, is the home field for Woodbridge. But Irvine, Northwood and University have the option of playing games there too.
After the foundation began raising funds through a number of events, coaches suggested that the best use for the money would be for a new scoreboard for the stadium, which opened in 1992 and was renamed a couple years later after the late Ryan Lemmon.
Ryan Lemmon, a Woodbridge High baseball star, was killed in a traffic accident in 1994. He was attending Pepperdine University at the time and pursuing his dreams of one day playing baseball in the Major Leagues.
Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray said the coaches are appreciative of what Lemmon has done.
"I think Guy comes from a good place and he's got a big heart," Murray said. "He cares a lot about high school sports.
"I think it (the scoreboard) is pretty special. It's going to be special for a long time. It's going to be tough to beat. I did coach at El Dorado and El Dorado has a special scoreboard, but Guy kind of looked at their plans and said, 'what can we do?' This is for every school in Irvine and all the teams in Irvine are going to be able to utilize this field. Think of all the kids that this is going to benefit."
A new sound system, also donated by the foundation, will also be in use this weekend, Lemmon said.
