Huntsville’s baseball facilities are tired and need to be upgraded. There are also not enough diamonds for the growth of the sport.
Those comments came from baseball and softball officials Wednesday night, June 14, at the Active Living Centre where Huntsville’s Director of Community Services Kari Lambe hosted a public meeting to discuss the future plans for the diamonds at McCulley-Robertson Recreation Park.
Susan Smith, representing the Huntsville Slo-Pitch program started it off saying their program has reached its limit and can’t expand without new facilities. She pointed out that this is the 26th season for women’s slo-pitch and since 1991 it has grown from four to 12 teams.
Smith told officials that the diamonds are in need of repair and it’s dangerous to the players to slide into a raised home plate. She also said the lights are not aligned properly, and there is need for better parking. Smith said her organization would like to work with the other groups to make things better.
Peter Haynes, president of the Muskoka Hornets baseball league, added the level of play has exceeded the condition of the fields. He pointed out there used to be six diamonds at McCulley-Robertson but two became soccer fields when baseball numbers fell off.
He called on town officials to consider installing clay instead of dirt and install new grass on the infields.
Peter Haynes
“Our immediate needs would be to have the infield on diamond “F”, which is assigned for hardball, changed to a clay surface,” said Haynes, “and for there be proper maintenance of the mound. If you go around the diamonds in Ontario, that mound is something that requires tender loving care and unless it is properly tarped at night then it can wear down very quickly especially with a lot of use and we are using it a lot more, so that is our number one priority.”
Stan Rimmington, representing men’s fastball, agreed and pointed out that they have a tournament in July that attracts 20 teams and he has had to address concerns about the maintenance of the diamonds and safety for the players. He also told town officials the outfield needs to be leveled and gave an example of one player who had fallen as a result of the uneven playing area and sustained an injury.
Haynes also said any renovations should include bullpen areas outside the playing field. He said after 17 years our diamonds don’t compare with others they play in the province with high level or select teams.
“For age pee wee and below, our diamonds are as good as anything we see in Ontario. It’s when we get to the adult or full baseball diamonds that are required at the age of fourteen. Our diamond, with due respect, is not where equivalent diamonds are throughout the province of Ontario. I don’t blame anyone for this. We have brought our program up to the point where we need a higher standard of diamond and the town has been incredibly co-operative and other communities in Muskoka have been co-operative with the users.
Peter Haynes, President of the Muskoka Hornets baseball league
Kari Lambe said the message was loud and clear and didn’t come as any real surprise to staff.
“There are some great things about our facilities,” she said, “but they have been there since 1986 and it’s time for some refurbishment and council recognizes that, so for us to move forward we need to establish what the priorities are. We will now be able to prioritize that list for council and take direction from them.”
Lambe told the handful of people at the public meeting that she and other staff members will be presenting a report to the town’s General Committee in July. Renovations would be made in 2018-19.
Don’t miss out on Doppler! Sign up for our free newsletter here.
0 Comments