Nearly three dozen volunteers trimmed trees, reworked infields, raked leaves, pressure washed a building, and cleaned out the press boxes, getting the Solanco Little League complex ready for opening day. Players in the league's 25 teams will begin practice this week. The older players will start training on Wednesday; the younger ones will take to the field early next week. The league will have more players this year than it did in 2015.
"We're up 60 kids from last year," league president Ken Crank said. "That doesn't seem like much, but after 10 years of declining numbers, it's significant." Players, coaches, and parents turned out on Saturday morning, March 19, to get the league's nine fields ready for the season. "We fixed the base cutouts on fields six, seven, and eight. We added more dirt to field two, and reset second base on field one," Crank said. With help from Hanna's Tree Service, volunteers trimmed trees around the complex and chipped the limbs. The resulting mulch will be used on the league's playgrounds. "Without them helping, I don't know what we would have done," Crank said. One project may not be finished before the season opens April 23. The league is installing a rainwater collection and storage system, funded in part by a grant from Land O' Lakes Foundation. "We're planning to use a 3,000 gallon collection tank," Crank said. Water will be piped to the tank from roof downspouts and then pumped to the league's fields, where it will water grass in drier months. The league decided to install the system after officials realized the on-site well does not produce enough to water the fields. "It [the tank] will also have a fill cap, so we can put water in from a tank truck if we need more than the system collects," Crank said. While the locations for the tank and pipes have been determined, the league may not be able to get the system installed in the next four weeks. "We would like to have it ready before the season starts, but that depends on several things, including the weather," the league president said. "If we can't get it done by April 23, we will do it in May. If we have to do it during the season, we'll do it with the least disruption possible." Comments are closed.
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