Over the summer at Huntley High School, many additions to the school were updated and remodeled, so to say. Many of these additions were small, minor, ‘detail-work’ that was done to spruce up the school as a whole. Besides the vast selection of clubs and activities available after school, the athletic teams make up the face of Huntley, what we as a school are known for.
One of these such renovations was the Softball/Baseball field, which while it might not have been a big renovation, still added some much-needed attention to the overgrown fields, and peeling paints in the backstop.
“It’s been over a decade since we’ve had any sort of serious significant renovation done, and we are extremely grateful that the school board and the school district supported a plan to renovate the backstops, and the varsity baseball and softball fields,” Glen Wilson, the athletic director at HHS said.
The fields that are being used by the Baseball and Softball teams, however, are not just used for those sports in the sports sessions (fall or winter) and are also used by the gym classes on an average basis. These reasons also helped to support the drive and need to renovate the fields.
But possibly the best addition to the fields was a bigger “net” to catch foul balls or other dangers that could stray from the game and manage to hit (even accidentally) someone who was watching the game or looking at their phone. This is a big help for the players, as well as audience members, to feel more comfortable during the game.
“The way the fields and the predominance of right-handed hitters increases the number of foul balls going into the freshman baseball field. So if you have multiple games going on, which is often the case in the spring, you know it’s impeding on their game and safety at the forefront of these upgrades,” Glen Wilson said.
Whenever another sport or game is going on during a baseball or softball game, the chances of getting hit are now considerably lower thanks to these upgrades. The only other mentioned factor is that players have a generally positive attitude toward the newer field renovations.
With a regard to the thought that the session is starting soon, and that the teams, both new and old, are going to hopefully have a wonderful start to the new session. If not because of the hardship, practice, dedication, and overall performance of the team, but because of the additions and renovations to the field itself.