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Interesting sports venues

Everybody has his or her favorite sports venue.

Some choose Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. Others might go for Augusta National. Madison Square Garden and Lambeau Field are filled with history.

The Butler County area — obviously on a much smaller scale — has some pretty good sports venues in its own right. We all have our opinions, but here are my 10 favorites, in order of preference.

1. Pullman Park. I’m a baseball guy and this place is filled with history. Seeing Pullman Park transition from an old-school minor league field to a modern-day all-weather facility — while keeping its nostalgic charm — has been a pleasure.

2. Critchfield Park. Slippery Rock University has a gem here. Since the facility became an all-turf playing surface, it is absolutely gorgeous.

3. Lernerville Speedway. One of the most recognizable dirt racing tracks is sitting in our own backyard. I admire the history there as well and can’t help but think of the night Ed Lynch Jr. bested the World of Outlaws. A magical evening.

4. Butler Country Club. I only played there once and the course survived. But this golf course has held U.S. Open qualifiers, numerous Tri-State PGA events and is considered one of the most prestigious golf courses in the vicinity.

5. Diehl Stadium. Karns City was the first county high school to get artificial turf on its football field. Couple that with the fact the Gremlins play their softball games on it as well ... It has to be on this list.

6. Swartz Field. Call me old-school, but I love this baseball field in Freeport. All-dirt infield, old backstop, spacious outfield — It screams baseball from the 1950s.

7. Graham Park. This sporting complex in Cranberry Township is incredible. Virtually every sport can be played somewhere on that property and the Miracle League Field — one of the first of its kind to allow special needs people to play baseball — puts it on this list by itself.

8. Art Bernardi Stadium. Butler’s football stadium holds a lot of memories for me. Terry Hanratty scored one of the first touchdowns ever on that field — maybe the first.

9. Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Like Pullman Park, there’s been quite a transition in Slippery Rock University’s football stadium. Prior to artificial turf, the place could be a mud pit — as it was for a memorable 1998 playoff win over Grand Valley State. Now it has a video scoreboard and has housed a lot of great playoff games and great players.

10. Seneca Valley baseball/softball. I’m cheating a bit here, but I can’t list one of these fields without the other. All turf means games can be played on soggy days when games can’t be played elsewhere. The scoreboards are nice and the atmosphere is perfect.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle

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