Field Maintenance Tips: How to Drag a Baseball and Softball Infield

Keep the infield in top status all flavour with these leveling and grooming tips.

Baseball and softball infield maintenance can literally be a drag, but it's worth the effort. Commit to regular intendance, and you volition be rewarded with a shine, playable infield surface throughout the season.

What are the all-time methods for keeping the infield in peak condition? For good insights on the proper techniques, Pro Tips spoke to Rebecca Auchter, grounds director for Cranberry Township, Pa. Cranberry is domicile to the DICK'Southward Sporting Goods Sportsplex, a 115-acre youth sports complex with v pristine baseball and softball fields. Auchter, a 20-yr veteran of grounds management and a certified sports field manager, oversees the intendance of these fields.

She shared the two central techniques for infield maintenance she uses: leveling and grooming.

Keep in mind that these tips apply to the "skinned" areas of the infield surface — the all-clay areas where no grass is present.

LEVELING

It all starts with regular leveling. It may exist tempting to simply catch a drag mat, groom the field and phone call it a twenty-four hour period, only this will only better how the field looks — not how it performs.

"The almost common fault I see from inexperienced and/or volunteer field managers is to elevate a steel mat around and around in circles without leveling uneven areas first," Auchter says. "The only way an infield skin will perform optimally is to level the loftier and low areas so water has an uninterrupted path out via a smooth surface."

How often should the infield be leveled? According to Auchter, leveling should be done later every employ. As shortly as play is finished, scan the infield for uneven areas. For smaller areas, you can typically use a leveling rake. Level the area by raking the cloth from a high spot and depositing it into the low spot. If the infield mix is dry, wet the newly leveled surface area and tamp it down to aid keep it in place.

Bigger jobs may require the apply of a leveling zipper for your tractor or riding mower. Before using a leveling attachment, apply a blast drag or needle tines to loosen the infield material. When leveling, make wide sweeping turns in several directions over your target surface area. Again, if the infield is dry, water the area and tamp information technology downwards to help keep the freshly leveled infield mix in identify.

GROOMING

Grooming prepares the field surface for play, providing a smooth, finished look. Remember, grooming should merely exist done after you have finished leveling.

Auchter suggests post-obit these steps for the best grooming results:

  1. Remove all bases and make full each hole with a rubber plug or similar product.
  2. Use a smash drag to "scarify" the field, which helps break up hard and compacted cloth on the infield.
  3. Later on scarifying the field, terminate preparation the field with a drag mat or broom.
  4. When you are a few feet from the outfield grass, lift the elevate and shake off whatever excess field mix. Then, hand rake the edges to prevent lip build-up.
  5. Use a rake to smoothen out the pile left past the elevate.
  6. Use a hand rake to groom the base paths, habitation plate area and the back radius of the infield.

Go on the following tips in mind when grooming:

  • Y'all should start and finish training at different spots in the infield each fourth dimension. If you lot brainstorm in the same spot every time, you could remove also much dirt from that expanse. Likewise, if you stop at the same spot every fourth dimension, you could go out a buildup of dirt in that area. Both can get out y'all with an uneven playing surface, and so make certain you change up your routine.
  • Change upwards the direction in which yous groom. This can help preclude uneven spots from forming.
  • Maintain a steady step. Going too fast can cause the drag to bounce and get out uneven clay deposits throughout the infield.

"Improper preparation techniques lead to lips at the grass transition — high and low spots that trap water, and ultimately unpredictable ball roll that can frustrate or [possibly] injure players," Auchter says.

Finally, here are some things you should absolutely avoid when grooming the infield:

  • Do not use a grooming tool on whatever grass surfaces.
  • Practice not use a drag mat within 2 anxiety of the grass edge. Getting any closer can crusade lips to form.
  • Do not utilise a elevate mat around habitation plate.
  • Exercise non attempt to drag the base paths if there is grass on the infield. Instead, use a hand rake, raking parallel to the grass.

OFFSEASON UPKEEP

If you live in an expanse with common cold winters, you may wonder what yous should do with the infield surface during the offseason.

"When fields are non in use, it is best to level, roll the surface and exit it lonely," Auchter says. "Loosening the superlative textile by grooming creates a state of affairs where rain and wind can more easily displace the infield mix."

With these field maintenance tips, yous'll have your field performing and looking its best all season.