I was wondering what others thought of the recent conditions at Baseball Heaven. This was our 4th trip there last weekend and it was the most disappointing. The rain is out of their control so I can't complain about that but the things that bothered me the most were:
- Two of the four 90' diamonds now having temporary mounds which the pitchers would fall off a cliff if they tried any pickoff move. Also, the steepness of the decline seemed too much and made the footing very difficult, especially in wet conditions.
- Prior to the rain conditions last weekend, our team was slated to play 1 of our 3 games at an offsite field. From the google map it looked like it was a dirt infield field at a local community field. I find it disappointing that they are trying to squeeze so many teams in that they are now scheduling games offsite at what look to be sub-par fields especially since the cost for their tournaments is so much more than others due to the fact that the fields are supposed to be pristine turf fields.
(Note that when the rain was forecast they moved all games back to Baseball Heaven for our age division but postponed the 10's and 11's til this weekend. Worked fine for us but...I would have been unhappy if we were an 11yo team with hotel reservations and travel plans)
- The field itself was very uneven. With the turf fields, I believe there is a machine that can be used to smooth out the rubber fill. Unfortunately it didn't look like this had been done this year because the fields were not even.
Just so it isn't all negative, they were better at communicating status during the rain situations than previous years. Our coach received personal calls and email notifications when delays occurred. They were also accommodating of special requests which is always difficult to handle. So on the personnel side, they seemed to be better than previous years. I know some teams played very late which is difficult but when traveling to a tournament in those conditions, I would rather play a late game than not so I can't complain about that. I know that upset some parents but there is not much that can be done when there are weather delays.
I guess they are probably trying to cater to the 12&under age groups more since that is probably more of the demand and I understand they are trying to make money but these recent changes will stop our group from returning.
Were others there last weekend and what did they think?
TC
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