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Miller's. By the entrance to Orange Lake Resort.
Miller's. By the entrance to Orange Lake Resort.
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I live on the other side of I-4 - but the Ale Houses in Orlando are nice places. You know there is a BW's right down the street from there. It is HUGE.
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QM -- I'm sure you'll get the straight story from Joey. To me, having fastpitch's best playing their championship on a makeshift baseball field simply oozes with disrepect for the game and its athletes.
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Does anyone have a link to the box scores from the Championship Games?
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I can't help but wonder if rain was a factor... and TV time allotted... and if they weren't forced to play on a baseball field to field the requirement of TV.
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Pictures from the local newspaper there in Sulphur, LA.
http://www.sulphurdailynews.com/pho...o-Fastpitch-Championship-Series?foto=0&page=0
http://www.sulphurdailynews.com/pho...o-Fastpitch-Championship-Series?foto=0&page=0
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Well, it wasn't rain as it was 100 degrees there.
Here is a link to check out.... http://thesoftballchannel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2701
Still love our Racers ladies. Next year is being heard as OUR year !!!!!
Here is a link to check out.... http://thesoftballchannel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2701
Still love our Racers ladies. Next year is being heard as OUR year !!!!!
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Mark,
The turf fields have the entire infield surface made up of turf. Bases are set right in the middle of the turf as is pitching and catching area. There are no cut outs in front of the bases, just turf! This is the same surface that Ohio Stadium and many of the high school fields have in that it is the rubber pellets style.
I got put on them a few weeks ago when I had an Adult SP state tournament. I watched a guy slide in front of home plate and almost go to the back stop as he could not stop. The adult players have told me that when it rains and someone slides, they can overslide a base by as much 5-10 feet!
One of the grounds crew who used to umpire for us told me they are slotting 14-17 as the next ones to get the turf and they plan to do 4-6 per season until the entire park is done.
The problem they are having in FP is the circle. They can't put chalk down like dirt. If they get a 35 plate and then have 40 and then even 43, they cant put a circle down. Spray painting it like most places do with foul lines to the fence, and they can't rub it out or get if off the field. They also have no batters boxes. They can't chalk them and they run adult, FP, and baseball on the turf fields thru out the year. I don't know if the dimensions are different in baseball, but thought the box was the same for both SP and FP.
The one shining light in this is the foul lines do not get rubbed out and never need touched up. If they get the circle issue fixed, they will be okay. One thing is they never touch them up. The turf doesn't move or get tamped down. My only thought is that the pressure of the drag foot has to be doing something to the turf around the pitching plate.
To me it seems like it would be great for slow pitch as they can pretty much eliminate cancelations unless a monsoon moves in. FP with 3 different pitching dimensions and Youth Baseball could be problem matic. They do have the throw down boy's pitching mounds, but changing out fields for FP is a problem.
The turf fields have the entire infield surface made up of turf. Bases are set right in the middle of the turf as is pitching and catching area. There are no cut outs in front of the bases, just turf! This is the same surface that Ohio Stadium and many of the high school fields have in that it is the rubber pellets style.
I got put on them a few weeks ago when I had an Adult SP state tournament. I watched a guy slide in front of home plate and almost go to the back stop as he could not stop. The adult players have told me that when it rains and someone slides, they can overslide a base by as much 5-10 feet!
One of the grounds crew who used to umpire for us told me they are slotting 14-17 as the next ones to get the turf and they plan to do 4-6 per season until the entire park is done.
The problem they are having in FP is the circle. They can't put chalk down like dirt. If they get a 35 plate and then have 40 and then even 43, they cant put a circle down. Spray painting it like most places do with foul lines to the fence, and they can't rub it out or get if off the field. They also have no batters boxes. They can't chalk them and they run adult, FP, and baseball on the turf fields thru out the year. I don't know if the dimensions are different in baseball, but thought the box was the same for both SP and FP.
The one shining light in this is the foul lines do not get rubbed out and never need touched up. If they get the circle issue fixed, they will be okay. One thing is they never touch them up. The turf doesn't move or get tamped down. My only thought is that the pressure of the drag foot has to be doing something to the turf around the pitching plate.
To me it seems like it would be great for slow pitch as they can pretty much eliminate cancelations unless a monsoon moves in. FP with 3 different pitching dimensions and Youth Baseball could be problem matic. They do have the throw down boy's pitching mounds, but changing out fields for FP is a problem.
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QM, my youngest sister lives a stones throw directly behind that park in Sulphur. That is a beautiful facility as she has taken me over there on visits......if you play Baseball. There is also another facility less than 4 miles from here called Frasch Park which hosts a lot of USSSA baseball including some of their World Series events and LA state tournaments.
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Mike I would imagine that would exclude Berliner from hosting any more NSA WS events. I can't imagine a real organization playing on FP fields that did not at least have cut outs for the sliding pits and the pitchers circle. That is a shame - but honestly Berliner does not need fastpitch tournaments.
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I know a planned park for Warren County is going that direction.. 8 diamonds with removable mounds. Play baseball or softball.
You wonder why you couldn't put down chalk and when you have to move the circle.. use a vaccum to vaccum up the chalk and put new down.
As A TD.. just try not to change pitching distances much...LOL
You wonder why you couldn't put down chalk and when you have to move the circle.. use a vaccum to vaccum up the chalk and put new down.
As A TD.. just try not to change pitching distances much...LOL
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NSA fell in love with Chattanoga
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and personally.. I don't blame them
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We just played at a brand new complex in South Carolina. They all have turf on the new diamonds, however, they have dirt cutouts for the pitchers plate and home plate area. These are dedicated softball fields though. They are also building dedicated baseball fields also. They were at least smart about fastpitch as they also had about a 4 foot wide strip extending from the circle towards home plate where the pitchers could land in dirt. It wasnt that bad to play on. It was hot though.
On a side note, the little rubber pellets they use in the turf can be an issue. I saw two times where a fielder got a piece in her eye from a hard hit ground ball that brings them up and another that slid and got them in their eyes.
On a side note, the little rubber pellets they use in the turf can be an issue. I saw two times where a fielder got a piece in her eye from a hard hit ground ball that brings them up and another that slid and got them in their eyes.
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Do they have cut outs around the bases or are they sliding into 2nd and 3rd on turf?
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That was the bad thing. Turf sliding into the bases. Yes, you did slide easy. I can imagine if it was wet.
Also, just because it's dirt doesn't make it better. We've played on some very uneven, rocky, rutty dirt diamonds before that I would have traded for turf. A well groomed brick surfaced diamond is the gold standard though.
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How can someone be "smart about fastpitch" and plant grass on the infield?
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It wasn't grass, it was plastic with tiny little rubber thingies. Please try to pay attention or we'll have to ban you to BlueDevilDad's politcal threads.
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OK then please allow me to rephrase.
How can anyone be "smart about fastpitch" and put "plastic with tiny little rubber thingies" on the infield?
How can anyone be "smart about fastpitch" and put "plastic with tiny little rubber thingies" on the infield?
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Seems like it would be easier to have mats for the pitching circles. The mats would also provide some protection for the permanent turf underneath.
Some schools that put in turf around here had issues with staph infections after a year or two. The turf needs to be disinfected periodically.
