Turf fields for baseball, softball needed

As some of you know, I have been filling in on sports coverage for the McDonald County (Mo.) newspaper, the McDonald County Press.

First, I want to say the new I-49 Bella Vista Bypass is a lifesaver. You can hop on that thing anywhere in Northwest Arkansas — I usually get on at Gravette — and book it up across the stateline in the blink of an eye it seems.

This makes for getting to Anderson, Mo., where McDonald County High School is located, an enjoyable trip.

A few weeks ago, McDonald County High School played its first game on a beautiful new artificial turf baseball field at its baseball stadium. MCHS also turfed its softball field as well.

This is the newest and most popular thing to do with baseball and softball fields these days.

As much as I enjoy a freshly cut, lined, dragged and watered baseball field, I must say I am highly impressed with these artificial turf fields.

When I was a kid in the late 1980s, I was always fascinated with the concept of artificial turf. Of course in those days, lots of ballparks had artificial turf: Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, and all the domes in Minnesota, Montreal, Houston, just to name a few.

Essentially, it was a layer of carpet on concrete.

Artificial turf technology has come a long, long way since then, and I suspect it will only continue to get better.

As I sit here on a rainy Monday morning writing this piece, the Siloam Springs’ baseball and softball programs come to mind in regards to these turf fields.

The baseball game today against Gravette has been rained out. It’s been well chronicled the struggle the senior baseball field at James Butts Baseball Park has with retaining water. With a turf field, the game might still be on for this afternoon.

It’s in the plans — and has been in the plans for more than a decade it seems — for the SSHS baseball and softball programs to have new fields of their own built near Siloam Springs High School. It’s a project that’s long overdue.

I hope these artificial turf fields are part of the plan. I’ve been told by different folks that they are. So we’ll see.

I do know that these new fields in McDonald County have given the programs up there an added sense of pride, not only for the program but the community in general. “Hey, look at how awesome our high school baseball field is!”

When Siloam Springs built Panther Stadium several years ago and it was finished in 2015, it was almost immediately recognized as one of the best set-ups in Northwest Arkansas. It’s a terrific place to watch a sporting event.

I’m optimistic the same will be true when the Panthers and Lady Panthers get baseball and softball complexes, respectively, of their own.