FIELD OF THE YEAR SCHOOLS AND PARKS BASEBALL
SportsField Management( SFM): Congratulations on the Field of the Year win. What are you most proud of with this win? Doug Trillo, CSFM, CPSI, CTTW: We are honored to be selected as the winners of the SFMA 2025 FOY for Schools and Parks Baseball. Knowing that there are so many field managers and their crews that maintain their fields with hard work and pride, we are truly grateful for this award and cannot thank SFMA enough for the opportunity to showcase our field and recognize the work of the people behind the scenes.
Level and category of submission: Schools and Parks Baseball
Field manager: Doug Trillo, CSFM, CPSI, CTTW
Title: Athletics and ballfield supervisor
Education: High school / some college
Original facility construction: 1912-1914
Turfgrass: Kentucky bluegrass
Overseed: Wear areas overseeded with Barenbrug HGT bluegrass
Rootzone: Sandy loam
Drainage system: Sand channel drains in the outfield
SFM: What were the biggest challenges you have faced with the winning field, and how have you approached those challenges? Trillo: I have a lot of the same challenges as other sports field managers and their crews: extreme weather changes, fields heavily booked with games and events, and limited crew size.
Muzzy Field was built in 1914, and the field is 100 % Kentucky bluegrass with native soil( sandy loam), which has some different challenges from some other fields. Luckily, advancements in the turfgrass industry have been a tremendous help to combat these problems.
One of our biggest challenges is our crew size. We have 16 baseball and softball fields to maintain with a 7-person crew. With the number of fields we have to maintain, I am only able to send one crew member in for game prep. This is why I commend my crew. For one crew member to turn over the field at a consistently high level is a great accomplishment by each of them.
I believe one of the best approaches is planning. As sports field managers, we know we have limited time and short windows( seeding) to keep up on the field health and performance. Because we deal with many things that we cannot control, we have to plan ahead with a plan A, B and possibly C. I have a plan for every aspect of what we do to the field ahead of time with a backup plan.
SFM: Can you share a little about your overall management approach to the winning field and what you feel have been the most important aspects to getting this field to an award-winning level? Trillo: I believe one of the most important attributes to a FOY is the continued maintenance of the field. Training your crew and communicating with crew members to ensure the proper way of maintaining the field is crucial. If someone is not properly trained, they could cause more unneces-
12 SportsField Management | June 2026 sportsfieldmanagementonline. com