Shorecrest baseball field receives facelift

SHORELINE — Months before they picked up any bats and balls, the Scots wielded rakes and shovels as part of an extensive field renovation project.

Starting in October, the Shorecrest baseball team clocked hundreds of man-hours working through a laundry list of overdue improvements.

“The field’s getting up there in age,” Scots coach Brett Medalia said. “We try to do a little bit every year and every year the field’s gotten better. The kids are pretty proud of it.”

Among the changes:

• The infield was reseeded, all of the basepaths were tilled and new basepaths were cut from home to first and from third to home.

• With the help of the Shoreline School District maintenance department, the area outside the foul lines was leveled and the dirt in front of each dugout was replaced with 18 tons of cyntrax (red cinders). Another three tons was placed along the warning track.

• Worn-out areas on the field were replaced with new sod. The area around the pitcher’s mound was also resodded, cutting the diameter of the mound from 23 feet to 16 feet. The mound itself was reshaped and sighted for correct height.

• Both bullpens were cleaned out and the visitor’s mound and catcher’s box were rebuilt.

• The weekend before tryouts began, the infield dirt was treated with soil conditioner and a truckload of gravel was brought in to cover the driveway and walkways.

Other upgrades were made to the batting cages and outfield grass in recent seasons.

“Until this year we always seemed to be fighting an uphill battle,” Medalia said. “It was nice to see this all come together like it did.”

Players, coaches and parents donated their weekends and weekday afternoons to complete the restoration, which was financed through donations, ASB monies and baseball-specific funds from the school.

“There were a tremendous amount of hours put into this labor of love,” Medalia said.