Bon Air Elementary School softball field work expected to be completed this month
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The Burrell School Board on Tuesday night approved a $1,800 change order for extra material to fill in soft spots at Bon Air Elementary School softball field where renovation work is expected to wrap up at the end of the month.
The $276,500 project includes replacing the outfield and baseline fences with another 4-foot-high fence. The drainage system will be upgraded with the underground pipes covered with 3 inches of gravel. W.G. Land Inc. of Champion is the contractor.
The most obvious problem has been a nearly 5-foot drop from home plate to right field, with the most treacherous part being behind second base, said Drake D’Angelo, Burrell’s athletic director.
Soil has been brought in to add to the outfield to create, literally, a level playing field.
But stone and other materials have to be added and packed down in soft spots before the soil is added, D’Angelo said.
Then there are drainage issues in right field, where water will pond after a rain.
Although the renovations are expected to be completed by the end of the month, the district was to keep “people off throughout the fall to have a great spring,” he said.
The field is used by the high school and middle school softball teams and by Burrell Fastpitch. Non-school teams reserve the field for multiple games from spring to Oct. 31, D’Angelo said. But not this season, as field improvements have been under way this summer.
The field was built with nearly all volunteer labor and donated materials in late summer 1989. It was home for several WPIAL playoff games when the late Bill McGuire was Burrell athletic director and a WPIAL board member.