Slugger Complex in Peoria, Illinois

[YoungBuck]

Louisville Slugger® Sports Complex

DD is playing in Peoria next week. Anybody been there ? Surface play much different than dirt and grass ?

Been through Peoria numerous times, but never stopped...curious what to do with the down time ? Fishing good ?

 

[WinThemAll]

double post

 

[WinThemAll]

Very nice place. You cannot wear metal cleats, turf shoes work the best, just make sure the soles are not worn. The surface plays very fast, balls get by the outfield very quick. The surface makes it a lot hotter on the field.

Very good places to eat. Try the Hungry Moose, great for breakfast!!! Minor League Ball Park downtown. Riverfront area that's fun to walk around and watch the boats. Peoria Brewing Company is a good place to stop Peoria Hofbrau is awesome. Some cool Ice Cream places.

 

[anut710]

Burger Barge!
The Folks working the gate are quite strict regarding food and beverage containers. Had to poor water out of a bottle to enter only to use their water fountain to fill it back up? Concessions are pretty lean considering the rules. Other nice thing is you can watch an entire day of ball and not feel like you ate 5lbs of dirt.

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[Westwind]

Surface is fast.

Especially fast if it's wet.

Consider molded cleats instead of turfs, I insisted dd's wear them due to injury I saw there early spring. There is a Dicks Sporting Goods close and they carry a few cheap molded cleats.

Might want to set up an outfitter to do the Asian carp deal on the Illinois River, looks like fun.

There is a Bass Pro Shops in Peoria.

Go to the Burger Barge, go to the one by the casino not the one in East Peoria. It's cheap, it's filthy and it's delicious. Go in a small group, dont try to take the whole team, it's usually packed.

It's going to be a really nice facility, they are still working on it.

Good luck! We will be just down the road in Bloomington!

 

[iFastpitch]

Played in the LS Youth Championship Sig Series back on 5/27. Carpet was fast. Moulded cleats are a must, esp for pitchers. Sodded areas next to fields were fresh and off limits to practice. LOTS of concrete. No trees. Bring your own shade. Can be windy. Concessions were minimal, at best. So minimal we were encouraged at that time to bring our own food and snacks. Might be better now. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites. Several other hotels within 1.5 miles of complex. Culver's, Steak-n-shake, TGI Fridays, etc. within a mile. Shoppes at Grand Prairie right nearby with the Dick's Sporting Good store. AGAIN, bring your own shade.

 

[Westwind]

Played in the LS Youth Championship Sig Series back on 5/27. Carpet was fast. Moulded cleats are a must, esp for pitchers. Sodded areas next to fields were fresh and off limits to practice. LOTS of concrete. No trees. Bring your own shade. Can be windy. Concessions were minimal, at best. So minimal we were encouraged at that time to bring our own food and snacks. Might be better now. We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites. Several other hotels within 1.5 miles of complex. Culver's, Steak-n-shake, TGI Fridays, etc. within a mile. Shoppes at Grand Prairie right nearby with the Dick's Sporting Good store. AGAIN, bring your own shade.

We played that one too, one of our pitchers had a season ending injury fielding a bunt with turf shoes on wet turf so I also would say molded cleats are necessary.

Was there last couple weekends, it's much better. They laid down a lot of grass turf for the common areas but still no shade. Concessions better but still not 100%. I think this is going to be a really nice place to play when they are done. The dome is about to go up and it is going to be spectacular compared to Pekin.

 

[PracticeIt]

Be prepared with both Metal and turf/molded cleats. There will be a good amount of teams there and some games will be played at the East Peoria complex which is dirt/grass fields. Just want to make sure no one leaves their metal cleats at home!

 

[Cannonball]

Surface is fast.

Especially fast if it's wet.

Consider molded cleats instead of turfs, I insisted dd's wear them due to injury I saw there early spring. There is a Dicks Sporting Goods close and they carry a few cheap molded cleats.

Might want to set up an outfitter to do the Asian carp deal on the Illinois River, looks like fun.

There is a Bass Pro Shops in Peoria.

Go to the Burger Barge, go to the one by the casino not the one in East Peoria. It's cheap, it's filthy and it's delicious. Go in a small group, dont try to take the whole team, it's usually packed.

It's going to be a really nice facility, they are still working on it.

Good luck! We will be just down the road in Bloomington!

Excellent advice. I love that place and go there every time I am in the area. When you pull in, you will think, "what the heck are we doing here." Go in and feast! I have not been to the new complex but had several girls I give lessons to play there. Three hit some bombs there so I wonder what the dimensions of the field are. I had one player hit 3 or 4 there a week or two back. In fact, a college coach came up to her coach afterwards and asked about her.

Edited to add:

I just noticed that it is a "Stay to Play" facility. I'm not hip to that. I can get great deals at certain places around the area and have been in that area a lot so would not agree to that. Good thing I don't have to worry anymore. LOL BTW, we almost always stay at Stoney Creek. The people there have been great to us each year our dd played in the GLVC Tournament.

 

[Top_Notch]

Just back from Peoria from the State Tournament (where DD team won their division....I digress). Still under construction but playable. As noted, fields are HOT and fast.
Bathrooms not yet constructed and left a lot to be desired (not a lot of porta potties). Concessions were minimal. Parking was tight but not terrible. Sliding is fast too, so slide early. A couple girls grabbed the base to stop on their way to center field!