James Island Charter flips on LED light-show era for sports fields
The Charleston school’s baseball, softball, football and practice fields now run on programmable LED lights from Torrence Sports Lighting.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
Home runs at James Island Charter School now come with a light show.
The Charleston school has upgraded the lighting on its baseball, softball, football and practice fields, swapping older metal halide fixtures for a wireless, programmable LED system installed by Torrence Sports Lighting.
For the Trojans, that means the baseball program, a three-time state champion, can add red, blue and green lighting effects to the night-game routine. Matt Spivey, the school’s head baseball coach and assistant athletic director, said the system is programmed for school-color displays after home runs and postgame celebrations.
“Kids want to be a part of it,” Spivey said, describing the new setup as a jolt of energy for the stadium.
The upgrade is also a facilities move, not just a showpiece. The previous metal halide lamps needed regular replacement, with fixtures burning out every year or two, according to the school’s account of the project. On a field with 70 lamps, that meant repeated bulb changes and the use of heavy equipment on the playing surface.
Torrence reused the existing poles but replaced the fixtures and cross arms. The result is a system that can be controlled wirelessly and programmed for different events, while cutting down on the routine maintenance that comes with older sports-field lighting.
LED systems have become common across school and municipal athletics because they use less electricity and can be aimed and controlled more precisely than older fixtures. For local programs, the payoff can show up in both the electric bill and the amount of time a field stays playable without maintenance crews rolling equipment across it.
Travis Penley, owner of Torrence Sports Lighting, said LED bulbs can run for years before they need replacement and that customers also look for reduced energy use. LED lighting can lower monthly energy costs by 50% to 70% compared with metal halide fixtures, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
The James Island Charter project gives the school a system built for both Friday-night football atmosphere and spring baseball moments. The same lighting package covers the baseball, softball, football and practice fields, bringing a uniform setup across the athletics complex.
Spivey said Torrence was chosen because of its experience and because the company said it could complete the work before baseball season. He said the company followed through on that timeline.
The programmable LED sports lighting at James Island Charter is part of Torrence’s broader work in school, college and parks facilities across the Southeast. Headquartered in Charlotte, the company says it has been hired for more than 2,000 lighting projects in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia and Tennessee since it was founded in 2004.
For fans in the stands, the most visible change is the flash: colored lights after big plays, a little theater around wins and a stadium that can look different from one inning to the next. For the athletics department, the less flashy change may be the one that lasts: fewer burned-out bulbs, fewer lifts on the turf and lower energy demand for night games.