Youngsters weren’t the only ones taking advantage of a recent warm spell in weather this past week. Members of the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation staff were also busy trying to make the most of some warm weather days that were higher than average for the end of October.

 

Starting on Tuesday, P&R staff was busy at the Bridgeport Recreation Complex doing repairs to the highly used facility that will be entering another heavy season of usage next spring. And the repairs are more of the natural kind as opposed to something mechanical.

 

“We’re making some sod repairs around the worn areas of the baseball fields,” said P&R Deputy Director Joe Shuttleworth. “We have some worn areas around the bases, the home plate area and around the pitcher’s mounds. Those are the areas that see the most wear and those are the areas we’re concentrating on.”

 

Sod was delivered to the Rec Complex Tuesday. The P&R department acquires the material from a farm just outside of Pittsburgh, Shuttleworth said.

 

“We did this last year and we’ll do it again next year. This is one of the repairs that we’ll have to continue to do on an annual basis to have the fields at the complex looking as good as they can once the next season begins,” Shuttleworth said.

 

Activity at the complex is wrapped up for this year. This past year, the complex saw literally hundreds of events – primarily baseball – take place at the $7.5 million facility opened in 2012.

 

“The thing with this sod is that, even though it holds up pretty well, you know it’s going to get tore up based on the amount of use the fields see,” said Shuttleworth. “The goal is to do the repairs at the right time and in the right manner so the fields will look good for as long as possible. Even with the wear, the fields were in great shape.”

 

The sod being placed down this week will take a few weeks to attach firmly, Shuttleworth said. The early fall, he said, is a good time to allow the roots to get down firmly into the soil. Once play begins again, perhaps as early as the end of March, the sod should be firmly in place.