With multiple tournaments coming to Bridgeport during the warm weather months during each of the past two years, one might be hard pressed to say the goal of drawing visitors to the city with the opening of the Bridgeport Recreation Complex hasn’t been realized. Those involved with the complex wouldn’t mind seeing even more teams involved, but sometimes all four fields are full.

 

So how do you allow for more teams? You do some creative thinking and see what comes up.

 

As it turns out, Parks and Recreation has found a way to allow for more youth teams to compete on Recreation Complex Field 3, which is typically used by high school level and older competitors. Earlier this week, workers with Bridgeport’s Parks and Recreation laid the groundwork for a new portable fence system on the field that will shrink the dimensions of the field.

 

“We already have several anchors in the ground for multiple base lengths that helps with configuring the fields for different age groups,” said Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Joe Shuttleworth. “While that’s a good thing, the problem is that the fence line remained the same even when we adjusted the bases. The fence was set for adult level and high school level play.”

 

Shuttleworth said that situation helped limit the number of younger teams that could participate in tournaments. He said most of the interest the Recreation Complex sees is from the younger groups.

 

“The portable fence makes the field playable now for competitive use among the younger age groups. We have permanent anchors in the ground and it only takes a few minutes to put up the fence,” said Shuttleworth. “The fence has a dimension of 250 feet, which is a little further than the Little League dimension of 225 feet.”

 

The fence is supported by PVC tubing that was installed into the ground. The tubes have caps on them when the fence isn’t up to provide safety. Once the caps are removed the fence is rolled out, stood up and the posts slide into the anchors.

 

The $1,500 project might not be the last. Shuttleworth said it’s possible that Field 3 could have additional anchors put in at smaller or further lengths. However, anything further would require the purchase of a new fence. Adjustments could be made for a smaller field, said.

 

According to P&R Director Don Burton, the fence saw its first usage this past weekend at the 2^nd Annual Battle in the Mountain State tournament.

 

“It didn’t take long to install. The reviews on it were really good. The tournament director was very pleased with the new outfield portable fencing because it allowed an additional age group to have more field usage available,” said Burton.

 

Editor's Note: Photo courtesy of Joe Shuttleworth.