April 7, 2023 |
Photo – Baseball – Bigfoot99 file photo
Rawlins needs to improve its existing baseball fields, says the city recreation director.
During a workshop session before Tuesday’s city council meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Jason Sehon said he toured the city’s sports facilities two years ago. He said he did not expect the baseball fields to be in such poor condition.
Sehon said he met with members of the American Legion Post 112 Generals baseball team two months later. Volunteers from the Legion, as well as parents and children, spent a day cleaning up the ball fields. The city parks department also aerated and fertilized the turf and tilled the infield. Sehon said baseball infields need a specialized mix of dirt, sand, and clay which requires regular maintenance. He explained what happens if maintenance isn’t performed properly.
The city has two different sets of baseball fields. Little League plays at the VFW Ballpark by the county fairgrounds. The Generals play at the sports complex on Harshman Street. Sehon said the VFW ballfield is in better shape than the sports complex.
Over the last two years, Sehon said a force of volunteers and city employees worked to improve both sets of ball fields.
Sehon said he bought the specialized dirt and clay mixture for the sports complex baseball fields. He said a highly recommended company will come in the fall to apply the mix and level out the field.
Laser grading uses a survey laser to mark out a perfectly level play surface without dips or other imperfections.
Trevor Taffner, who plays for the Generals, attended the workshop on behalf of the American Legion. Taffner said the league’s Western Conference Director stated, in a letter to him, that the city fields were below quality for league play. Taffner said the league wants improvements.
Sehon admitted two inches of infield mix would not make much of a difference on its own. He said good dirt still exists on the fields that can be combined with the new clay mixture. Sehon said upgrades are limited by his budget.
Sehon said the parks department usually spends one day working on the baseball fields before each season, with a crew of volunteers following up the next day. He said the fields at the sports complex are in such poor condition that Parks Superintendent Tyrell Perry will have crews spend three days there.
Councilman Chris Weisenburg said he was shocked by the letter Taffner received. He asked how the city can allow children on a field considered too dangerous to play on.
Sehon said he wouldn’t allow kids to play on an unsafe field. He said the infields are in fairly good shape, but the outfield is in need of work. Sehon said the ball field is still perfectly playable, however. He said you can’t account for every imperfection in the field.
Sehon said Rawlins has the chance to host a district little league tournament in 2026, but only if the fields are brought up to league standards before that time.
Sehon mentioned other upgrades needed at the ball fields. He said the concession stand was renovated, but the concrete still needs to be replaced. Upgrades will be paid for by Wyoming Community Gas payouts and Carbon County School District #1 recreation grants. Sehon said he can only do so much each year with the money he has.
Sehon and the entire city council expressed their appreciation for the volunteers who donate their time to help maintain the baseball fields. Without their help, Mayor Terry Weickum said, the city could never hope to maintain the fields on its own.
