West Marin Little League

Field Preparation

Field maintenance and preparation is the responsibility of ALL members of our community - managers, coaches, players, parents and volunteers. We have the best baseball fields in Marin county and we need your help to keep them that way.

Please see the instructions below for managing our fields before and after practices and games. And field improvements you can help to make in your spare time during the season and in the off season.

If you have any questions, please contact our field crew. You can find their information here.

POST GAME AND PRACTICE FIELD PREPARATION

Field Preparation is mandatory and should be completed every time you use a field for practice or a game. There are no exceptions.
Mound Care	Rake loose mound mix back into pitcher's rubber and landing area. Fill deep holes with mound clay or mix asnecessary. Not a bad idea to do at the bull penmounds as well. Water lightly to dampen (do not oversaturate), compact and rake smooth. Cover with tarp – Alway safter play if there is no group waiting for the field. Covering with the tarp keeps the mound mix moist and maintains good traction. A moist mound can be shaped and compacted easily when holes occur, andrequires less maintenance in the long run. If left to dry, mound clay becomesnearly brick hard and has very little traction, and is very difficult to work with. In the rainy season, covering with a tarp keeps the mound and batter's box frombeing over-saturated.
Batters Box	Fill deep holes with mix asnecessary. Water lightly to dampen (do not oversaturate), compact and rake smooth.
Infield Skin	Rake loose infield mix into depressions in front of the bases (sliding area) Remove bases and rubber mounts Replace with orange or black base plugs to prevent dirt filling the metalmounting tube. Drag infield and base paths as needed. Do not pull drag over the infield grass or the rubber base mounts Rake or sweep dirt out of the infield grass. Hose out the dirt with a mild blasting toward the infield dirt occasionally if youcan see that there is infield dirt building up in the grass that is not raking out. Reasons to do all of the above! Dirt usually builds up on the outfield side of 2nd base and in foul territoryoutside of 1st and 3rd base. If we scrape these high areas and fill areas in front of the bases they won't poolwhen it rains and the sliding surface will not be rock hard. The batter's box tends to be a low spot and attracts standing water which willcause a rainout even when the rest of the field is playable. Pulling the dirt out of the grass keeps a lip from building up which then requiressod replacement and lots of volunteer time and/or money that could be spent elsewhere. The edge can be ruined (as can an infielder’s face) within one season if care is not taken with the edges during the season.

PRE GAME FIELD PREPARATION

This is the procedure for preparing our baseball fields for a game. After each game, the field should be restored as described above.
Drag The Field	Drag the infield Remove the cover andrake the mound.Fill in and compact any holes. Sweep home plate and base mounts. Water the infield. Install the bases and place the plugs in a safe place to replace after the game
Line The Field	Follow these Instructionsby downloading the document below!