A portion of the new outfield fencing at Brightondale to accommodate The Show system.
Note: Lakeland Little League is a westofthei.com sponsor — DH
Lakeland Little League officials and dedicated volunteers have been working hard at the Brightondale Park baseball fields this fall to make a new system of youth baseball possible.
The new system, called The Show, is a combined league where the kids will be playing 12 games of in-house ball on the traditional 46 feet pitching mounds and 60 feet bases, and then 12 games on the new 50 feet pitching mounds and 70 feet bases with the addition of high school rules, where kids can lead off, steal before the ball crosses the plate and get picked off by the pitcher (this is typically known as 50/70 ball).
Frank Gagliardi, president of Lakeland Little League and a Paddock Lake-based attorney, petitioned the Kenosha County Parks Operations Director with a detailed proposal to make many changes to first Brightondale and then if needed Spencer Field. This proposal was approved.
At Brightondale, (and then the same at Spencer in the coming years) the league is doing the following, starting this year and into next spring before the season starts:
- Drainage work.
- All four fields will have home plate moved back approximately 3.5 feet,
- There will be two sets of base posts on each field (one for 60 feet bases and one for 70 feet),
- The current mound will be expanded and the existing rubber remains,
- There will be a temporary removable rubber for the 46 feet 6 inch mounds,
- The infield grass lines will be adjusted for the base paths as well as the out field lips,
- Then the fences on two of the fields will be raised to 10 feet in Left Field and Right Field from the foul pole 100 feet towards Center Field on each side (and Center would stay at 6 feet high fences),
- Then on two of the fields we would be leaving Left and Right Field at 6 feet high fencing and raising Center Field to 10 feet high for a total distance of 150 feet (75 feet towards Right and 75 feet towards Left),
- The league has asked for fence mesh to be approved and will install depending on the costs.
- The league has approval for 4 score boards and up to 8 batting cages. The main location of the cages would be behind the Right-Center Fence of field #1 (currently there is flat gravel between the fence and the parking lots).
- The league also will have the ability to move the fences back if needed but will wait to see about demand before this is done.
The score boards will be a project that will occur in the next couple of years as there is a grant that can be applied for that will cover much of the cost.
Gagilardi wanted to thank Gehring Well for helping with digging and drainage work and B& M Fencing for the fence work that has taken place so far as well as board members Andy Briggs and Matt Mitacek who have contributed many hours to the project.
The infields at Brightondale are being extended to accommodate The Show system.
