INFIELDS

By Paul Zwaska

While some parts of the United States are battling a daunting drought , other parts of the country may be dealing with lots of rain . You just never know . In fact , things can change very quickly . For example , a few years back , within a three-week span , the entire state of Texas went from a major four-year drought to being totally drought free . It takes a lot of rain to knock out four years of drought in just three weeks . With all that rain , surely there were many having issues with trying to get their fields ready after a rain . If you have already encountered a lot of rain , or you do later this season , let ’ s take a look at what you can do to help your fields recoup from a rain event as quickly as possible .

1 . KEEP YOUR INFIELD PROPERLY GRADED First and foremost , make sure that your infield is properly graded to promote positive surface drainage . Ideally , the infield should be graded so that the area around the base of the pitcher ’ s mound is the highest point on the infield with the surface grade then sloping away from the mound in all directions . However , depending on the lay of the land on which the field was built , the other way of grading an infield would be to “ sheet drain ” it . This means the entire infield is tilted in one direction ; for example , the infield may tilt from the first base foul line toward left field . In either instance , both of these surface grades are only

efficient at draining the water off if the surface is smooth and consistent . In other words , there are no high spots or low spots to impede or deflect the drainage . Proper nail and float dragging are crucial maintenance practices that , when done correctly , will keep your skin surface in smooth and consistent surface draining condition .

2 . MAINTAIN YOUR TURF EDGES Maintaining your turf edges to prevent lip buildup will allow the water to easily pass over from infield skin to turf area without any issues . When infield soil and infield topdressing build up in the edges of the grass , that ridge or “ lip ” impedes the water from freely moving off the field . The more severe the lip , the more water it will hold back onto the infield skin . Properly maintain those lips to keep them from slowing your field from recuperating .

3 . CHOOSE APPROPRIATE INFIELD SOIL MATERIAL The right infield soil material has a huge impact on speed of reentry onto an infield after a rain . Infield soils that are either high in silt or high in fine and very fine sand drastically affect how quickly the field is playable again after a rain . Even worse is when you have both problems . High silt and high fine sand content infield soils can take a day or multiple days to recuperate . Have your infield soil tested to check to see how your soil material lines up with the acceptable specifications . Strive for a balanced infield soil with the right amounts of medium to coarse sand and

34 SportsField Management | August 2023 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com