It has come to my attention that some teams have expressed their displeasure with some of the conditions at the diamonds. I would like to address some of the issues.
University & Marden Diamonds
The university diamond was one of the concerns in regards to the lines being off or chalk not provided. If you make us aware of this, we can tell the university and they will remedy the situation. Believe me, they are willing to work with us here as they are interested in our business – which is more than I can say for the city at this point.
I was made aware of the missing spikes at the university diamond back in July. I went out and purchased more spikes and put them in the box. A week later, I was told they were missing again.
Then I was informed that the straps on the bases were broken at both the university and the Marden diamonds. We made efforts to replace those but, unfortunately, we have been unable to obtain any more because every store has been sold out. This week, I was able to find some in Orillia and they are being sent to me this week.
I would remind teams that all diamonds were equipped with a hammer, spikes, bases, etc. and teams should use the hammer to remove the spikes, NOT pull on the straps to release the spike from the ground. Straps are not that strong and will surely break at some point using this method.
We will have spikes and straps replaced by next week when they are delivered. In the meantime, if you are playing on these diamonds I would ask that, if you have a set of bases, please bring them and use them so as to resolve the issue.
If teams have a problem with diamond conditions or lack of equipment, it is the team rep’s responsibility to make the Executive aware of these problems. Telling the umpires will not solve the problem as we don’t see the umpires on a regular basis. If you simply send us an email we can resolve issues quickly.
An update on GG4 diamonds
As everyone has noticed, the poles have been lying on the ground since June. Apparently they went to put them in and noticed that the ground was saturated from the surrounding swamp area. They have had to order stabilizers to put in the ground before they can raise the poles. Hopefully this will be done in time for the closing tourney but we are not hopeful at this time.
Schedules
Please make sure you check the league website as some schedules have been changed to accommodate the lack of lights on GG4 and assure that we get all games in.
That’s all for now.
Thank you,
Bruce
