Faber Field baseball diamond makeover more player-friendly

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Posted 8/14/19

MENDOTA – Faber Field baseball diamond at Lake Mendota has been undergoing a makeover this summer.

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Faber Field baseball diamond makeover more player-friendly

Posted

MENDOTA – Faber Field baseball diamond at Lake Mendota has been undergoing a makeover this summer.

According to Kyle Zinke of the Mendota Little League, “We needed to convert the field into a 54/80 field (mound 54 feet and bases 80 feet). District 20 has been a pilot program for the last two years for Little League in hopes of having them recognize that field size. This would be for the Midwest states. The field can be easily switched back to a 60/90 field for Senior League and or high school games when they are played at the field. We are trying to help the kids transition from the little field to the big field and in hopes of making better quality games.”

Zinke added that Holy Cross School needs to play on a 54/80 field as well for the IESA. If the field was not converted, Holy Cross would not have been able to play any home games this season or be able to host any tournaments.

Zinke said they had to skim off around 7 feet of the infield grass. Dan McConville of 11th St. Nursery did the sod skimming. A 6-foot wide warning track was put on the entire interior of the field with about 3 to 4 inches of lime.

Paul Faber and Matt Faber donated the cost of the lime and trucking for the field and warning track. In total, it was eight semi loads of lime, which totaled 176 tons. Brian Basil of Basil Construction donated the use of his skid loader and utility tractor along with his time. Ed Gleim also donated the use of his skid loader and time on the field to accomplish this. Todd Zimmerlein offered the use of his utility tractor and implements to work on the field that day as well. Members of the Little League board and parents and children of Holy Cross came out as well to help with the work on the field. The pitcher’s mound will be re-done at a later date and that will be completed by McConville.

This project would not have been able to be accomplished without the cooperation of Mayor Dave Boelk, the city council and Carl Ambler, said Zinke.