BEDFORD, Ind., April 2, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- It's time to play ball! Bedford North Lawrence High School will hold a dedication ceremony for its new synthetic turf baseball field at 6 p.m. today, preceding the team's home-opener against Whiteland Community High School. The school's new synthetic turf softball field will be dedicated at 10 a.m. Saturday, before the Stars take on Silver Creek High School. The installation of the synthetic turf fields is part of a $2.3 million project that includes the Bedford North Lawrence football field, which will be renovated after the conclusion of the high school track season.
Woolpert was contracted by North Lawrence Community Schools to provide civil engineering and design for the three high school athletic fields. The 43,000-square-foot softball infield and outfield was completely converted to synthetic turf. The baseball field had its roughly 31,000-square-foot infield resurfaced with synthetic turf, while natural turf and improved drainage was installed in the 82,000-square-foot outfield.
Both fields also received new bullpens, outfield fencing and backstops. The backstops, manufactured by Sportsfield Specialties, are fully padded and include tension netting that allows for better visibility. Woolpert Team Leader Todd Ford said The Motz Group's TriplePlay Synthetic Turf System installed at the fields includes high-performance turf fibers combined with a mixture of sand and rubber infill, specifically designed for frequent baseball and softball use.
"Synthetic turf, especially in the infield, enables teams to get back out and play quickly after inclement weather, and the natural turf in the baseball outfield is supported by drainage designed to improve the field's resilience to help prevent rainouts," Ford said. "The bullpens, which are located outside the fields of play, also have synthetic turf that matches the game mounds."
Bedford North Lawrence Athletic Director and Baseball Coach Jeff Callahan said the school elected to convert the fields to synthetic turf to give the student-athletes and student body the opportunity to get the "amazing usage" from these fields that synthetic turf affords.
"Take the football field, for example. I don't like to call it just a football field, because it will host football, soccer, band, PE classes, youth sports, etc.," Callahan said. "In the past, it's been used less than 100 hours a year to minimize the impact on grass. But when it's synthetic turf, it will be used more than 1,000 hours per year."
Callahan added that the baseball and softball teams already are seeing the benefit of this turf upgrade.
"We've had 15 practice days this spring," Callahan said. "If we still had our natural turf fields, we would have been able to be out there maybe two or three of those days. But we were out playing on these new fields 14 of the 15 days available. We're looking forward to enjoying these fields for many years to come."
About Woolpert
Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, recently earned its fifth-straight Great Place to Work certification and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been America's fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has over 1,100 employees and 42 offices in three countries. For more, visit woolpert.com.
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SOURCE Woolpert
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