Would You Believe They Play Football On This Field?

At the end of practice the Piper players shake the dirt off their cleats and walk off the outfield to head for the showers like any other team would.

Except this time of year these players wear shoulder pads and helmets.

During the fall the Bengals’ baseball field is used as a practice field for the football team, or at least the outfield is. Like many schools across Broward County, during the offseason the fields are utilized for other sports and activities. Across the county there is a shortage of available, accessible fields, and some campuses don’t even have the land available to add fields if they wanted to. For many teams playing fall baseball, they are left on their own to find a temporary home field.

But, as the saying goes, there’s no place like home… field.

A baseball team’s home field presents the biggest advantage that each club has. Every field has its own unique attributes that the home team adapts its play to, every stadium has its divets and shaky ground, and every ball park has its sweet spot that is the deepest place to hit a homerun to.

It is a great feeling to play on your home field, it is a surface you are used to and a setting that you are comfortable succeeding in because you’ve practiced it right here a million times before. Playing on your home field just feels natural.

Piper coach Chris Costanzo has an idea what a perfect field is like. “It has clean cut grass, the field has been dragged, the debris has been cleared, the divets have been filled in and smoothed, and the catcher’s box is hard-packed so his feet are not sinking,” said Costanzo.

If you really want to put the finishing touches on a field, one can create checkerboard, diamond or argyle patterns in it. This process is known as lawn striping, and it is done using a lawnmower and a roller. Old-fashioned reel mowers are used to cut the grass, and the lawn roller is attached just behind the mower blades to bend the grass down. The patterns are revealed when the light shines off the bent grass. The lighter green grass is caused by the sunlight reflecting off the whole blade of grass, while the darker green grass is the sunlight reflecting off of only the tips of the blades of grass. Watering the grass right after mowing will also help to make the pattern stand out.

The process is not as difficult as it may seem, and it has a great affect that really shows some love and appreciation for the field.

The Piper players know what it’s like to care that much about their field. They team up by position at the end of practices to help groom and clean their field, and nobody leaves until everything is finished. It helps to build pride and ownership not only of their field, but also of their position and their specific area within their field. Sometimes when they are on the road they will notice the way another team has not groomed the field the way they know is best for it.

But most teams take pride in their fields just as the Bengals do.

For many teams during the offseason the option to play on their home field is simply not available. Many are left to schedule only road games for offseason competition. Some, like Piper, have readily available options.

Piper’s baseball team has played its fall games at Flamingo Park in Sunrise, which has proven to be a great and welcome host. While it is a different atmosphere, with different dugouts and no announcers, Costanzo says it puts things in perspective when he thinks about those teams who have no home field this time of year.

“At least we have a field to use,” he said. “It’s actually worked pretty well; we get afternoon weight-room sessions at the school and then we come to the field for practices at night. We’d like to play at home, but the lights are always on for us at Flamingo Park.”

The coach also points out that it helps the players prepare for road games simply because all of their games feel like road games.

But once football season is over, the baseball field is shut down and the grass is redone. The bumps in the outfield get smoothed, truckloads of dirt are brought in for the infield, and the bullpens are redone. The grass is treated and given time to grow, and come spring tryouts the field is ready for another season.

“Our athletic director Manuel Valdez does a great job of communicating with us, and he takes great care of our field,” Costanzo stated. “It’s tough not having our field to use during the season. It could be better for us, but we are happy with what we have. When we really need it, it is there for us.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!