Members of the Pleasant Valley School District gathered beneath the newly installed scoreboard on the high school’s baseball field Wednesday morning to thank the Ricky Finelli Memorial Fund and St. Luke’s University Health Network for their donations to make it possible.

The new scoreboard was the dream of Brittany Angelica.

Angelica was the fiancee of Richard Finelli, a 2010 graduate of Pleasant Valley High School who died in a crash on Route 33 in 2016. The memorial fund she created raises money to provide scholarships to graduates of PVHS.

Since 2017, the fund has been able to provide four scholarships of between $500 and $1,000 to four athletes. The fund also provided nearly $14,000 in donations to cover the cost of the scoreboard. St. Luke’s covered the cost of installation.

“To have it out in the field is very satisfying,” Angelica said.

Earlier in the summer when the scoreboard was ordered through Varsity Scoreboards, she said she thought Finelli would be very happy to know it is going up.

As a student at PVHS, Finelli was a football player, but loved watching Angelica’s nephews play Little League Baseball. Now, one of those nephews is a junior at the school and will be playing baseball on that field in the spring. The other one is a student in middle school, but also hopes to be on the team one day.

“I’m just thrilled that we have terrific community members, and Brittany Angelica and her family are to be commended for their contribution,” said school board President Donna Yozwiak. “These monuments are great remembrances of important people in our community.”

Superintendent Lee Lesisko thanked Angelica and St. Luke’s for making the scoreboard possible. The former one will continue to be used for other sports at a nearby field.

“It’s sad that we’re here because of the circumstances, but the scoreboard is a great benefit to our school and community,” he said.

Although Angelica knew the size of the board, seeing it in person was a whole other matter.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be that big,” she said. “I’m very happy with how it came out. ”

The new scoreboard is 8 by 20 feet with a 3-foot-wide scallop at the top that says, “Home of the Bears in Memory of Ricky Finelli.”

“I think the scoreboard is a great idea,” Pleasant Valley High School Principal Matthew Triolo said. “I’m happy and proud that the hard work was put in by these three people to make it happen.”

Those three people are Angelica, PVHS baseball coach T.J. Murphy and PVHS athletic director Thomas Toth. The project took two years to complete.

Toth said, “To have a community member like Brittany donate the money for a project like this is just phenomenal.”

The players are super excited about the new scoreboard, Murphy said.

“It really spruces up our fields,” he said. “You get to take great pride in it.”

Angelica said everything the memorial fund is able to do is made possible through donations from area residents and the help she has received from people volunteering their time with her fundraisers. Due to COVID-19, the usual fundraisers of bingo and more have to be postponed, but she still plans to do a Gertrude Hawk fundraiser in the spring.

“I’m so happy we got to showcase the scoreboard today in order to thank everyone for their part in it,” she said.