(Photo Provided) Ruth Kerrigan stands at Ruth Kerrigan Field at the Belpre Township Sports Complex on Federal Road. The field was dedicated in Kerrigan’s honor this year. She turns 94 on Friday.

LITTLE HOCKING — A Little Hocking woman celebrating her 94th birthday on Friday has been honored with the dedication of a baseball field in her name.

Ruth Kerrigan Field at the Belpre Township Sports Complex is named after Ruth Kerrigan, who played there as a young girl.

A ceremony was held in April.

“I was so surprised,” Kerrigan said. “I just couldn’t believe it.”

Kerrigan has been involved in community affairs and the Warren School District her entire life.

Raising five kids, Kerrigan worked in the school kitchens, performed some maintenance, baked pies for PTA and fire department fundraisers, taught Bible classes at the Little Hocking Church of Christ and traveled with youth groups to summer camps.

“I’ve been busy my whole life,” she said.

As girls softball gained in popularity, she and her husband Jim in the late 1970s started and coached the first team at Little Hocking. Playing past age 70, her crowning achievement was winning the Barlow Fair Softball Championship with her two sisters, Joann and Sharon, her two daughters Sandy and Tammy Jo and her cousin Vicky Lowe on the team coached by her brother, Denver Collins.

At the dedication ceremony, Kerrigan’s great grandson, Bryson Hall, 12, a sixth-grader at Warren Middle School, threw the first pitch to her, Sandy Hall, Kerrigan’s daughter, said. He’s the fourth generation of her family to play at the field, located off SR 7 on Federal Road.

“That was really special,” Hall said.

Kerrigan played on the fields as a young girl, Hall said.

She coached seventh and grade softball teams and later played in a softball league, she said.

“Now she goes to her great-grandson’s baseball games up there,” Hall said.

Among those in the effort to name the field after Kerrigan was Chuck Lipps.

“Well deserved,” Lipps said. “I thank the Warren Warrior Youth Baseball League and the Belpre Township Trustees for their support in honoring her.”

Sponsorship and donation information for the Warren Warrior Youth Baseball League is at www.wwybl.com or its facebook page Friends of Ruth.

Donations can be made to the Friends of Ruth Kerrigan by mail to WWYBL c/o Hannah Baker, 1605 Hill St. #8, Belpre, OH 45714.

Kerrigan also was the 2024 parade marshal at the Little Hocking Fire & Rescue Ice Cream Social. Lifestyle has much to do with her longevity, according to Kerrigan.

“She’s never smoked, never drank and she’s been very active outside,” Hall said.

Kerrigan said she’s never been sick until around age 90.

“I’ve been real lucky,” she said.