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: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/27931
F.O.Y. Field of the Year Allen overcomes drainage issues, wins College Softball award MICHIGAN STATE TURF GRADUATE KARI ALLEN, CSFM, working with just a seasonal crew, won two 2010 Sports Turf Managers Association Field of the Year Awards, one for her work on the Village of Lisle (IL) Sports Complex at Benedictine University softball field and another for the baseball field. This month we highlight her winning the College Softball award. Benedictine University, in a suburb 25 miles west of downtown Chicago, is a Catholic university in the Benedictine tradition that offers 19 athletic programs and competes in the Northern Athletics Conference in Division III. Their softball field (Kentucky blue- grass, perennial ryegrass and annual bluegrass) was built in 2004, has never been renovated, and sees about 850 hours of action a year. Allen reports she overseeds selected areas with both 100% perennial ryegrass and a 70/30 Kentucky bluegrass/perennial rye mix. The soil is native loam with no sand. “Within the sports complex I am responsible for 28 acres in addition to the softball field,” Allen said in her award entry. “This includes three other grass fields, one synthetic field, and seven common landscaped and grass areas. Outside the complex I am 46 SportsTurf | April 2011 responsible for laying out and painting whatever type of field nec- essary on an open area which is rented out. I also have to help lay- out and paint logos when needed around campus.” DRAINAGE CHALLENGES “The greatest challenge I face on the softball field is drainage. Games are commonly played with kids sloshing around on a wet outfield. There is no subsurface drainage system, and the field was not properly graded during construction. There are areas of the field where the grade noticeably allows for water to run toward the skin rather than away from it. “The skinned area, however, is graded for excellent positive runoff. The incorrect slope, along with high and low areas, is so vast, the only way to really fix it would be a total renovation. With that option being out of the question, I find other, inexpensive ways to deal with the inconsistent runoff and out- field drainage. “We had the field DryJected a cou- ple of years ago and I did notice some improvement from that. That is also when I began topdressing areas that hold water with calcined clay, several www.sportsturfonline.com