face drainage, doesn't require quite the pre- cision in maintenance a ½% slope requires and 1% slope minimizes the potential for erosion associated with a steeper slope of 1¼ to 1½%. The elevation of home plate created a need for about 500 cubic yards of fill mate- rial to raise the entire infield. Luckily the original construction of the complex had left a mountain of material that would work as an excellent fill material. The mate- rial was similar in texture to a sandy un- screened infield mix. I would compare it to select fill which has a specified range of hy- draulic conductivity between 2" and 20" per hour. Select fill is a material sometimes used to help regulate percolation in a septic system. Because the topsoil we would be using to cover the fill material was a heavy textured soil that was not very permeable and we all know that infield mix is not very permeable, we decided subsurface drainage would not be necessary. The only drainage pipe we installed was at the base of the wall and we installed a sand slit drain around
>> SINCE THE TOPSOIL would be reused, we stripped and removed the sod.
the outfield radius of the infield to help with any water that might lay in the diver- sion. We did allow for channel drains to be installed in front of the dugouts at a later date if necessary. As with most any infield, we were relying on surface drainage to evac- uate surface water from the infield. Once the grading plan and the archi-
tect's footprint for the facility were finalized and documented, we were ready to begin
the project. Consideration on the part of all involved in the construction project al- lowed for a successful project and the con- struction of a safe, durable and playable field that is currently the pride of Saint Rose High School. ■
Jim Hermann, CSFM is President of Total
Control Inc. Athletic Field Management www.totalcontrolinfields.com.
www.stma.org
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