The netting above the left field fence at Veterans Memorial Park went up to protect Little League players and spectators from baseball’s flying off the main field at the complex. It helped catch something a little larger Saturday.
The infield tarp was blown off the main field during a brief-but-powerful rain-and-lightning storm that passed through just after the scheduled start of the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs’ New York Collegiate Baseball League game against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. With the weather threatening, the start of the game had already been delayed once and was about to be backed up again when the storm hit and forced a cancellation.
The tarp was in place at game time — 7 p.m. — in anticipation of rain. The start was delayed until 7:15 p.m. and would likely have been later had not the aftermath of the storm left the playing conditions unacceptable.
Strong winds arrived ahead of the rain at 7:10 p.m. The wind caught the corner of the tarp near home plate and ripped the 160-foot-by-160-foot plastic covering free of its stakes, setting it aloft and blowing into left field.
Assistant coach Justin Parrish was standing on the tarp near the mound when the wind picked it up. He was carried onto the left field grass by his wild ride. Other players and coaches were on the field, as well, at the time. Those who were attempting to hold the tarp down wisely let go. First baseman Matt James was on the tarp and slid off it on his belly, a reverse Slip ’n Slide with the sliding sheet moving rather than the slider.
The tarp eventually came to rest above the fence in left field against the foul pole, a utility pole, the protective netting and the Little League shack. The wind-driven force of the hit from the 1,200-pound tarp bent the left field foul pole significantly at the top of the fence. It also knocked an electrical wire free of its support on the utility pole.
Then the rain came. Brief though it was, the storm left puddles at the back of the infield dirt where the tarp would have protected the surface. The saturated field along with the low-hanging wire and bent foul pole left the conditions unplayable and forced the game’s postponement.
No makeup date was immediately announced. Saturday’s game was the final scheduled meeting between the DiamondDawgs and Golden Eagles.
The extent of the damage to the tarp was not immediately known. It sustained multiple tears, at least one of which was significant. The tarp is in its second year of use and may be patchable.
Saturday’s storm was not the first in recent memory to damage the facilities at Veterans Memorial Park. A violent storm during Labor Day weekend in 1998 snapped the wooden poles that supported the baseball scoreboard in right field and toppled the structure. The scoreboard has since been replaced and is now supported by steel I-beams.
Herkimer County Community College’s backstop toppled under the weight of snow and displaced the Generals’ home games at the start of the 2007 season to Little Falls while the structure was rebuilt.
And, of course, the netting above the left field fence at Veterans Memorial Park went up in 1996 after baseballs rained onto the Little League field during the home run derby prior to the start of what was then the Northeastern Collegiate Baseball League’s All-Star Game. Complaints received from spectators and staff at the adjacent Little League game prompted city police to halt the derby and eventually the net was put in place to protect the smaller field and its users.
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The netting above the left field fence at Veterans Memorial Park went up to protect Little League players and spectators from baseball’s flying off the main field at the complex. It helped catch something a little larger Saturday.
The infield tarp was blown off the main field during a brief-but-powerful rain-and-lightning storm that passed through just after the scheduled start of the Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs’ New York Collegiate Baseball League game against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. With the weather threatening, the start of the game had already been delayed once and was about to be backed up again when the storm hit and forced a cancellation.
The tarp was in place at game time — 7 p.m. — in anticipation of rain. The start was delayed until 7:15 p.m. and would likely have been later had not the aftermath of the storm left the playing conditions unacceptable.
Strong winds arrived ahead of the rain at 7:10 p.m. The wind caught the corner of the tarp near home plate and ripped the 160-foot-by-160-foot plastic covering free of its stakes, setting it aloft and blowing into left field.
Assistant coach Justin Parrish was standing on the tarp near the mound when the wind picked it up. He was carried onto the left field grass by his wild ride. Other players and coaches were on the field, as well, at the time. Those who were attempting to hold the tarp down wisely let go. First baseman Matt James was on the tarp and slid off it on his belly, a reverse Slip ’n Slide with the sliding sheet moving rather than the slider.
The tarp eventually came to rest above the fence in left field against the foul pole, a utility pole, the protective netting and the Little League shack. The wind-driven force of the hit from the 1,200-pound tarp bent the left field foul pole significantly at the top of the fence. It also knocked an electrical wire free of its support on the utility pole.
Then the rain came. Brief though it was, the storm left puddles at the back of the infield dirt where the tarp would have protected the surface. The saturated field along with the low-hanging wire and bent foul pole left the conditions unplayable and forced the game’s postponement.
No makeup date was immediately announced. Saturday’s game was the final scheduled meeting between the DiamondDawgs and Golden Eagles.
The extent of the damage to the tarp was not immediately known. It sustained multiple tears, at least one of which was significant. The tarp is in its second year of use and may be patchable.
Saturday’s storm was not the first in recent memory to damage the facilities at Veterans Memorial Park. A violent storm during Labor Day weekend in 1998 snapped the wooden poles that supported the baseball scoreboard in right field and toppled the structure. The scoreboard has since been replaced and is now supported by steel I-beams.
Herkimer County Community College’s backstop toppled under the weight of snow and displaced the Generals’ home games at the start of the 2007 season to Little Falls while the structure was rebuilt.
And, of course, the netting above the left field fence at Veterans Memorial Park went up in 1996 after baseballs rained onto the Little League field during the home run derby prior to the start of what was then the Northeastern Collegiate Baseball League’s All-Star Game. Complaints received from spectators and staff at the adjacent Little League game prompted city police to halt the derby and eventually the net was put in place to protect the smaller field and its users.
