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Written by By CHAYSE HELD Sentinel Sports Writer
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Tuesday, 22 April 2008 |
 Rossford plays at Perrysburg High School's baseball field, which is right next to I-75. The baseball backstop does not extend far enough and is letting foul balls get onto the highway. (Photo: Aaron Carpenter/Sentinel-Tribune)
To prevent foul balls from flying into the thick traffic of the freeway, a backstop was located almost directly behind the catcher and umpire, preventing most balls from leaving the field of play on the right side of the field.
However, the backstop prevented runners from scoring on wild pitches and eliminated the chance of any popups being caught by the catcher.
As a result, renovations were made before this season and the backstop was moved back to allow for wild pitches and catcher popups, both important aspects of the game of baseball.
But after an April 14 game against Southview that saw over two dozen foul balls hit onto or around I-75, a four-lane highway that sends traffic constantly zooming by the first baseline of the field, something needed to be done, according to Hall and Perrysburg athletics director Ray Pohlman.
"Tuesday, there were enough complaints and I knew something had to be done," Hall said.
Before the renovations, maybe 4-5 balls would go onto the highway during a varsity game, according to Hall.
No official police reports were filed with the Perrysburg Police Department, which has jurisdiction of the location, but there was enough concern to add eight extra feet of fencing directly behind home plate and down part of the first-base side of the field on top of what was the new backstop.
Pohlman said he talked with Perrysburg Chief of Police Rick Gilts soon after the April 14 situation to address the situation.
"We talked. He (Gilts) did get some vibes, but no report, call-the-cops type of thing," Pohlman said.
"We had no calls for service for baseballs in the roadway or anything like that," said Sgt. Jack Otte of the Perrysburg Police Department. "In over 20 years, I can't recall a complaint for baseballs. Unfortunately, we probably aren't going to get called until it hits a car."
According to Hall, they were lucky all of the balls hit onto the road, none directly hit any vehicles.
Games were moved from Perrysburg to alternate sites as the school addressed the situation last week.
The extra fencing cost $3,400 and was installed on Friday. If that does not fix the problem, with games scheduled to be played at the field this week, Hall said he would add a trapezoid net on top of the extra fencing. The net could cost around $800 according to Hall.
"Its one of those things where we have to correct and try to improve upon," Pohlman said. "We hopefully corrected it on Friday ... I think this (extra fencing) is going to help. We've looked at the situation and so this will help rectify it."
And though Hall would like to continue to be able to play the game the way it was meant to be played, with wild pitches and catcher popups, safety is the main concern.
"We anticipated that we were going to maybe have to do something when we did it," Hall said. "We weren't totally blind-sided. I was just shocked. I would have never guessed there'd be 24 in a game. We just want to prevent anything. If we find out (baseballs) are going out more than they always have, we'll make adjustments. We do have a backup plan and the backup plan will solve it."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 April 2008 )
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