For those worried about a shortage of youth baseball fields come spring due to the loss of the playing facilities where the new Johnson Elementary School will be constructed, there’s more than just some good news. Bridgeport City Council’s pledge to have a pair of fields ready at the Recreation Complex by the spring months is currently coming to fruition.

 

Earlier this week, Tri-State Turf began a near $42,000 project to install sod at the northern land bad of the Rec Complex to get grass growing much quicker than initially planned. The original process was to seed the area where the field will be located, irrigate it and have it ready for use by the fall of 2017.

 

The problem, which Council was made aware of, was that the t-ball and c-ball teams that have utilized the two fields at the JES site begin play in early spring. With playing fields already maxed, a good situation wasn’t in place until the sod strategy was presented and approved.

 

“We were looking at the land in question for additional playing fields for a while in what we call the Northern Land Bay.  The delay was because we needed to make sure we had some property available for a possible indoor complex in the event we weren’t able to secure the land we have now,” said Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Joe Shuttleworth. “With that moving forward, it opened up a lot of things and Council approved the funding to make it happen.”

 

Not only will there be two new youth baseball fields at the far end of the complex, but the fields will tie into a new soccer field as well. The outfields of both baseball fields will be part of the soccer complex, but Shuttleworth said there won’t be a lot of wear and tear because of it.

 

“For anyone concerned about wear, if they’ve watched a t-ball or c-ball game they know there’s not a whole lot of outfield action. It’s mainly instructional.  This is a good solution to a community concern,” said Shuttleworth.

 

To help the sod take root and the grass to grow between now and the spring months, the field will be irrigated. Shuttleworth also said the two new fields will be laser graded and excavated and the entire multi-purpose facility will have drainage installed. The drainage work is being handled by the Bridgeport Public Works Department and is currently taking place.

 

“We actually plan to have all the work done before winter and then just let the sod take hold. The final step will be to put in fencing and outside of having to install the fencing in spring because of weather issues, which we see as the worst case scenario, everything should still be ready for use when spring comes around,” said Shuttleworth.

 

Editor's Note: Top and bottom photos show show Tri-State Turf staff working on sod installation, while second photo shows Joe Shuttleworth talking with Tri-State's Supervisor. In the third photo, Public Works staffers work on the drainage system.