For high school athletic directors, there might be no more frustrating time of year than spring sports season, especially in Western Pennsylvania.
While trying to put together baseball and softball schedules that need to begin in mid-March in order to be completed by the end of the school year, athletic officials are often at the mercy of a fickle Mother Nature.
But at Seneca Valley this year, athletic director Heather Lewis can breathe a little easier.
The Raiders baseball and softball teams will play home games this season on newly installed FieldTurf fields that were completed just in time for the first pitches of the 2016 season.
The Seneca Valley School Board approved the $2.5 million project in September, and work began the following month. Vasco Sports Contractors Inc. of Massillon, Ohio, was hired to perform the work.
Lewis said the new fields will take away a lot of the guesswork when it comes to determining if home games need to be canceled due to weather conditions.
“Before, there would be days when the sun was shining, but we still had to postpone games because the fields were unplayable after it had rained the day before,” Lewis said.
“The natural surfaces just could not take the water. Now, that is not going to be as big an issue.”
Lewis said the only factors that should force cancellation on the new fields would be actual, steady rain at game time or lightning in the area.
“It's going to make my life a lot easier this time of year, that's for sure,” Lewis said.
Seneca Valley is one of the few districts in Western Pennsylvania that has turf for its baseball and softball fields.
Fox Chapel switched its baseball field to turf in 2012 and its softball field in 2014. Sewickley Academy's softball team also plays home games on a turf field.
However, Tim O'Malley, executive director of the WPIAL, is not sure many districts will follow suit in the near future.
“I think, given the economic landscape many districts are facing, it would be a little presumptuous to expect that others will go this route,” O'Malley said.
O'Malley said that, given the relatively short length of the baseball and softball seasons, it would be difficult for some districts to justify the expense of turf fields.
“Of course, other community organizations might benefit from the fields, but from a strictly high school perspective, I don't see many districts having the wherewithal to do this,” O'Malley said.
Lewis said in addition to helping with scheduling, the new fields are far cheaper to maintain and also could provide a better and safer playing surface. With the turf covering the entire playing surface from home plate to the outfield walls, including areas around the baselines that traditionally are dirt, bounces will be truer and more consistent.
“Any athlete will tell you, consistency is the one thing they want,” Lewis said.
Seneca Valley softball coach George Trew said his team can't wait to start playing their games on the new field.
“They are really excited to get started,” Trew said. “Ever since they found out this was really going to happen, they have been looking forward to it.”
Trew said there might be a bit of an adjustment for his players as they adapt to the new surface, but he doesn't expect it to be a big problem.
“We have practiced on turf before, so it won't be a completely new experience for them.”
Trew's team will open the season on the road at Pine-Richland before playing its first game on the new field the following day against Mars.
After opening with road games at Hampton and Mt. Lebanon, the Raider baseball team will break in its new field against Fox Chapel April 4.
The Mt. Lebanon baseball team this year will play home games on turf at the municipality's Wildcat Field.
Vince Townley is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 724-772-6364 or vtownley@tribweb.com.
