For those of you familiar with the weather in the Midwest this spring, I have no doubt you are as frustrated as I am. Currently we have played 8 games out of 19 on our schedule. The main culprit to us not playing has been our outfield. Our infield has a great drainage system under it and can get ready with just a few hours of no rain. Our outfield on the other hand has several low spots and 2-3 inches of water will collect there for days after it stops raining. We are planning on raising it after summer ball ends in July, but in the mean time, we have missed 4 games because of standing water in the outfield. We are supposed to have great weather next week and I don't think we'll be able to play because the water will probably be there until Tuesday or Wednesday.

We have tried several things as short term solutions... all to no avail.
1.) Squeegee - All the water came back to the low spots and I believe we were doing damage to the grass anyways.
2.) Shopvac - Bad idea
3.)Pump- worked a little, but only if the water was deeper than 2 inches

I was thinking about installing drain tiles, but our grounds department said that wasn't a solution because the trenches would sink. I am skeptical of their answer because I know other fields have tiles and they do not have a problem with sinking. My understanding is that if you reinforce it with rock, it will not sink.

Anyone have any long and/or short term solutions or any thoughts on the drain tile idea?

Thanks!

Depending just how much water is on the field and how much time you have to work it, a temporary solution could be using absorbent pads. I've seen the Pig brand used with success. Good luck.

We just played. Our field has one specific spot that is always bad when any measurable amount of rain falls. It'll hold water there for quite a long time. If it's just the outfield that has standing water, we'd play with it. Our infield, too, dried pretty quickly overall.

The problem is, its just about the whole left and center field, if it were just one spot, or an area of the field that wouldn't get too much play, we'd play, but unfortunately, it's about 2 -30 foot radius lakes in center and left.

We had a conversation on this a year or two ago:

http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6616002781/...401048122#7401048122

I am still a huge fan of the pump it out technique...

08

Try this. In the low spots, cut out a piece of sod and lay it near by. Then dig a small hole a little bigger than your pump. Set the pump in and connect 2 or 3 50' hoses to it and pump the water outside the fence if possible. Then fill the whole with dirt and replace the sod. You can do this wherever needed. It worked for us, good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Coachric:
Try this. In the low spots, cut out a piece of sod and lay it near by. Then dig a small hole a little bigger than your pump. Set the pump in and connect 2 or 3 50' hoses to it and pump the water outside the fence if possible. Then fill the whole with dirt and replace the sod. You can do this wherever needed. It worked for us, good luck.

I have seent his done before and it really works well. Water is going to go to the lowest point and if you can create that hole that is where the water will go. You will get the area pumped out very quickly.

If you've got one or two definate low spots in outfield you can even bury a sump pit: looks like a 10-15 gallon bucket people have in their basement. Cover it with artificial turf... open that baby up and the water runs in: pump it out off the field...
You can google the term "french drain" and this is the concept behind this. I put one in on a low spot I have on my warning track and it's working well.

The drain tile thing you are talking a huge project that may not work after a few years of silt build up.

The best time to take care of water problems is in the very beginning when ballfields are being laid out or being reworked.

The french drain technique is remarkably low tech and relatively inexpensive, but for some reason they aren't used often around ballfields. The pros certainly know how to use them on their ballfields. Why they aren't used much at lower levels is a real head scratcher...they are an ideal and permanent solution to a very vexing, recurring, and frustrating problem.

Here is a link to info on french drains: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain

And another.: http://landscaping.about.com/cs/lazylandscaping/ht/French_drains.htm

Keep in mind that the french drain does not have to include a drain tile. The plentiful voids between coarse, not finely, crushed rock along with 'silt blocking' roadway or landscape fabric will provide plenty of routes for excess surface water to be drained effortlessly from the ballfield. The fabric totally envelops the rock so silt never intrudes into the drain. If the rock settles slightly just back fill the trench as needed. It really shouldn't be much. Gravity, not you or a grounds crew, does all of the work 24/7 year round. Again...they are a permanent solution.

Since water seeks its own level the outflow end of the french drain must tie in to a low spot away from the ballfield. I would recommend a wide shallow swale encircling the ballfield designed not to interfere with the people coming and going to and from the ballfield.

Picture this swale as a very unobtrusive, very shallow and broad retention pond planted with grass and easy to mow and maintain. During dry weather you wouldn't even know that it is there. During wet weather you will see the water in there instead of on the field where it most likely would have prevented play.

If you are retrofitting, study your field layout and tie the french drain into the lowest spot away from the ballfield. If no low spot exists then that is the primary cause of your problem. A low spot will need to be constructed.

Even spider webbing a series of short french drains into the sump pits mentioned in a previous post above will work...this increases the area drained considerably. The water would then need to be pumped from the sump pits.

Remember...you don't have to have much difference in elevation for water to flow from one area to another. This is not an elaborate system...it is very simple, but must be understood and laid out properly to work.

A Ditch Witch©, coarse crushed rock, 'silt blocking' fabric, volunteers, and permission is all you need!

And for those of you that have a problem with the name you can always call it a freedom drain.

This is all you should hear after incorporating them into your field..."Play ball!"


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I would like to thank everyone for their responses... we are finally playing again, and this will give me some good ideas going into the fall to help fix this problem. I appreciate your expertise in a area that I certainly need to learn more about.

If you are redoing the field later in the year, I would not go with drains right now. Digging a hole to pump the water is prob. the best bet.

Another thing you can do to help with the drying time is to make holes about 2 inches wide and about a foot deep and have them a two or three feet apart. Fill these with infield conditioner or similar material. This will help the next time it rains.