The Bulldog Field Initiative (BFI) is excited to announce a major renovation project for the baseball fields in the Olmsted Falls/Township Community scheduled for completion in the spring of 2020. The $70,000 project will renovate the six infield baseball diamonds at the Olmsted Falls Early Childhood Center, Falls-Lenox Primary School, and Olmsted Falls Middle School.
Partnering with the BFI, through its non-profit entity the Olmsted Athletic Commission (OAC), will be the Olmsted Community Summer League (OCSL), the Olmsted Travel Baseball Association (OTBA), the Olmsted Community Baseball/Softball Commission (OCBSC) and the Urban Foundation.
The project will replace the top 2-3 inches of each diamond with a new sand and clay base as well as professional laser grading. The baseball diamond at Middle School East will also be extended to a full 90 feet, giving our youth another full baseball field to play upon. These improvements will greatly enhance the playing surface and improve the fields’ ability to take on rain during the spring.
“Our goal is to bring these six baseball diamonds on par with some of the other fields in the area,” said Ryan Mezinger, OTBA President. “We lost countless playable days the last few years due to rainouts. It would rain on Monday, and we couldn’t play until Thursday even if it was sunny in the days between. Even when they were playable, the fields themselves weren’t the best conditions with divots and uneven playing surfaces. This project should solve these issues and give all of our players the ability to get in more quality practices and games throughout the year.”
“When we started the Bulldog Field Initiative back in August of last year, we did so with the primary goal of improving our outdoor fields for our children,” said Joe Singleton, OAC President. “Our community has responded with over 125 families each committing $1,000 to improve our fields by becoming Bulldog Backers. This project will benefit nearly 1,000 youth baseball and softball players in the community from tee-ballers to our high school teams.”
“We hope that the community can see that we are deploying resources to help all kids and all outdoor sports,” said Jill Lukes, OCSL President and OAC Vice President. “I think when things got started there was the belief that only the high school teams, and specifically football would be the only benefactors. That is simply not the case here and I’m happy that in such a short period of time we are going to be able to make a real difference for our kids.”
For more information about the Bulldog Field Initiative and to become a Bulldog Backer please go to http://www.bulldogfields.org.
For more information about the Olmsted Community Summer League please go to https://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=ocsl.
For more information about the Olmsted Travel Baseball Association please go to https://www.olmstedtravelbaseball.com/.