SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/50965
form of subsurface drainage. On the skinned area, ½% slope is very difficult for the average maintenance crew to manage effectively and typically requires laser grad- ing a few times a year to remain effective. Some designers recommend a heavy tex- tured clayey infield mix like XYZ stadium, not understanding that unless the moisture in that mix is impeccably managed, it's going to get hard as a rock. I witnessed a regulation little league in- field constructed with a conical grading plan similar to the professional field I described. In this case the designer was sharp. He un- derstood that ½% slope isn't sufficient. He therefore recommended a 1% slope radiat- ing out in all directions from a point cen- tered on the infield turf. What he failed to realize is that you cannot construct a regula- tion pitcher's mound using this grading plan and adhere to the requirement that the pitching rubber be 6" above home plate. In fact, there would be no mound at all. A 1% rise from home plate to a pitching rubber at a distance of 46' would be about 5.5". This would however be a very effective grading plan for a softball infield with no mound. This same consideration afforded to a little league infield is necessary for a 90' baseball infield where the height of the pitching rubber is required to be 10" above home plate. In this situation you cannot construct a regulation mound using any more than a ½ % slope from the pitcher's mound to home plate. Even at ½% slope, the mound would only be about 6" high allowing only enough elevation for a 6' landing zone in front of the rubber. In this situation the desires of the coaches and athletic director need to be understood and the requirements prioritized to allow for a successful project. ST. ROSE HS GETS A NEW FIELD I had the opportunity to be involved in a construction project at Saint Rose High School in Belmar New Jersey. The loss of a facility they had used for years required the school construct a new varsity baseball field at another site comprised primarily of soccer fields. The project started with the inspection of the new site and selection of the location for the new field. The proposed location was in the corner of one of the existing soccer fields. The site was rectangular in shape with a diagonal slope of 1% across the entire tract. We had the option of selecting from two potential locations for the construction project. We could use the upper corner which would entail dealing with a diagonal cross slope away from the proposed home plate or we could use the bottom corner which would mean dealing with a 1% slope right down the center line of the proposed infield. Personally, I believe a cross slope is the most difficult slope to deal with on an infield. The excavation necessary to elimi- nate the cross slope was cost prohibitive so right or wrong we opted to deal with the 1% slope down the centerline. After the site selection, all those involved www.stma.org SportsTurf 21