Langford Minor Fastball, volunteers and the city are teaming up to upgrade Centennial park.
Improvements to the baseball fields will cost about $90,000 for the supplies and the fastball association is supplying the labour. The city hasn’t approved the funds yet, but is in the process said Mike Leskiw, manager of Langford parks and recreation.
Only some of the improvements will occur before ball season starts in April.
Within the month additional fencing and netting will be added to diamonds one and two in an effort to keep foul balls from landing in neighbouring yards or the stands. Additional fencing will also be added to the back of the field to help shield the concession and washrooms from balls as well.
At the end of the season fastball volunteers plan to replace the gravel in the infield.
“Right now (the surface) is too hard,” said John Musgrave, Langford minor ball president, explaining improvements haven’t been done to the park in the past 15 years.
Once the infield has been replaced it will need to settle for a couple months before it is used.
“Otherwise it’d be like running on sand at the beach,” explained Musgrave.
Because most of the labour will be covered by volunteers, Musgrave said he hopes to save enough to pay for the batting cages to be covered so players could use them year round.
“When it rains the balls won’t go through a pitching machine,” said Wendy Parker, registrar of the association.
On top of the field upgrades, the city plans to work on the aging playground, with some equipment and the ground cover already replaced.
In the playground, the large slide built into rock face is up for replacement explained Leskiw.
They’ll also look into issues in an area where water from the splash park pools, as well as upgrades to the washrooms and the concession.
The estimated cost for the playground work is $80,000, not yet approved in the Langford budget.