Poor field conditions.

[cwestwjg]

So we went down to playr ec ball at Feaster Park in Arkedelphia, AR and the fields have always been decent to play on. We went down there tonight to play a double header and got rained out before the second game.

The issue is the park has suffered budget and funding cuts this year and did not bring in new dirt to repair the fields over winter. We started tonight and it looked like a plow field nothing level and rocks the size of your fist everywhere in the infield. The ball was bouncing everywhere and I felt it was dangerous for the girls.

Why don't these people take care of the parks pick up the rocks and make it safe for the girls. I told the director I would not play there again with the same field conditions.

TB is so much better than rec IMO it's amazing how much better things are when people are spending alot of money to play.

 

[Hoover's Dad]

cwestwjg, is there something wrong with your hands or feet that would prevent you from helping maintain the field?
Could you buy that needed load of red clay or that load of sand that is need to mix with it? Could you have been there an hour before the game and lined off the infield yourself? Could you have brought your edger from home and shaped the infield lip with it? Could you have broght your garden sprayer from home with you last week and sprayed the grass behind 2B?


I live in a rural area where the city does not give much help with the fields. But parents and coaches take care of the fields the best that they can. With a little bit of ingenuity, you can build or have built some pretty good nail drags that can be pulled behind a 4 wheeler. Make the girls pick up rocks at the end of practice once a week.

I was at our rec park yesterday morning at 6:00, I drug the field and painted the foul lines in the outfield before I went to work, I was back at 4:00 that afternoon and finished chalking the field. It looked like team USA was going to take the field instead of a 10U rec team in south Alabama.

Fix it yourself, if no one else helps out, then you can whine and moan.

 

[Lozza]

Hahaha. I'm including the below picture of me pitching so you can see what a 'poor field' is. (and please no comments about my weight. My mother all but ruined this picture for me last night crying over how fat I am, I really don't need anyone else to make it worse) We play on grass. We pitch and bat on mats, so it's not going to damage the grass. I played a grand final with a hole in front of the pitching plate so large that I tripped over it and face planted. Our back nets, bar one diamond, are tempoary. They are put up before the game and put down after the game.

To have a skinned diamond to play on would be a dream. We have two in our entire state. That got put in this year. Our state players had to have three special trainings because none of them had ever played on a skinned diamond before.

There is nothing stopping you fixing it yourself.

 

[cwestwjg]

cwestwjg, is there something wrong with your hands or feet that would prevent you from helping maintain the field?

Fix it yourself, if no one else helps out, then you can whine and moan.

I totally agree their parents should do that. I do not live in that community and only go to that field maybe twice a year. We were not aware of the condition till we got there. In small rural communities like ours you travel to other community parks to play.

I am on the board in my home town and yes we maintain our fields in Bismarck, AR. The board members all chip in and pay to fix everything get weed spray and purchased Dynafil to resurface our fields. It works quite well by the way for small towns that dont have alot of money for crushed brick.

We did pick up every rock we could once we noticed the problem prior to the start of the game.

 

[PEPPERS]

We’re having a big argument in our community between citizens and the city council. They built 4 fields for the girls in the middle of nowhere, GA (it’s in a very rough neighborhood) no parking. The city has spent $900,000, an original budget of $170,000, way over budget 2 years and still no place to play. The contractor must have realities on the city council.

When we were kids we fixed our own fields, I remember one field where the outfield was a plowed field and you never lived until you chase a ball in a plowed field, good memories.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Some of the folks of my former students are suing the city of Flagstaff, to get equal fields for the girls. The boys fields are real nice, with lights - the softball fields, not so good.

 

[bobbyb]

We have one city around us that does tournaments... that I can not stand to go to. In fact we aren't this year. You pay to play...they have a gate fee...and on 3 out of 5 fields...are like concrete. I can literally dribble a softball on the field. I would rather play on a make shift field like Lozza's than that field!

 

[CPSBDad]

This a field we played on last summer in Lacey, WA. Artificial turf infield. Very nice facilities, but smelly--I heard it was a mushroom growing plant nearby. There may be more fields like this on the west side of the cascades because of all the rain. Oh, no sunflower seeds allowed

BTW, we got slaughtered by this team--blue/red uniform.

 

[shockcoach]

BTW, we got slaughtered by this team--blue/red uniform.

The blue/red team looks like the Express.

 

[shockcoach]

This is what we drove 1-1/2 hours for on Saturday morning. Had to be there by 7am. I was pretty ticked off!