Have you ever been hit in the face with a baseball? For those who haven’t, it doesn’t feel good by any means. When playing baseball, getting hit with the ball is a risk you have signed up for. But when that continues to happen over and over again because of the condition of the field, something should be changed.

Now that brings us back to the title of this blog, “The Neglected Field”. Each and everyone of Westborough High’s sports facilities are amazing, except one. The turf field is envied by all surrounding schools who don’t have turf, the newly revamped softball field looks great with the fence, the tennis courts are great, the gyms are both great, but then there is the baseball field.

The baseball field may look O.K. from a distance, but when you step onto that field, you can see how terrible it really is. The mound is a just a pile of solid dirt that has a piece of rubber sticking out of it and the whole infield is just gross. The dirt in the infield is this mixture of rock, mud clumps, and weeds. The lip of the infield is the most hazardous part of the field since it shoots the ball up every time its hit there. Ask third baseman Doug West what it is like to take a ground ball while at third base, or I can just tell you…its not fun. And I cannot forget to mention the grass, if you can call it that. Everywhere you look in the grass you can find rocks and pebbles and other dangerous things lying around. Not to mention that it is extremely uneven and full of holes which in no way is dangerous for players running around tracking down fly balls.

All I am trying to say is that before we take time and make a walking path around the backstop, we should look at the field itself. When it comes to the point where players are actually at risk because of the conditon of the field, something needs to be changed.