New turf for the baseball field...
- Thread starter HOF Coach
- Start date
They were going to have to change a portion of the turf for all three anyway to compensate for the color change; it makes sense to just do a full replacement. I know the soccer turf, at least, was in poor shape. I think when they switched to the script Pitt a few years ago, all they did was just switch out the portion with Pitt on it rather than doing a full replacement.
I would think that especially the soccer field should be changed out every five years or so at the most. You go too much longer than that on a field that gets used pretty regularly and it's going to get in pretty bad shape. The baseball and softball fields probably don't get near as much pounding, but I agree the color change was probably a factor (maybe THE factor) there.
As well as the BOGO sale at the turf store!
I think those are IM flag football fields. The sports dome next to it is for student IM use. I don’t think varsity football has practiced up there since they built the facility on the south side.
They are also redoing the padding on the outfield walls, etc. Soccer had the updated scoreboard installed and obviously they are doubling the size of the office and workout facilities. Just some overall upgrades as well since they didnt have the money during the initial build.
I was surprised to see the baseball field was being replaced. It didn’t seem to need it from afar. But the soccer pitch was pretty bad. Even with the new turf, it’s a different game then on grass. I know the soccer coaches want real grass. They’ve expressed it and even address it in recruiting.
The turf doesn’t last the 10 years they’re supposed to. Every year there are high schools replacing their turf because their life cycles are coming to an end. Ideally they need replaced every 7 years or so. I’m curious how my HS will look in two years because after 5 years, it still looks as good as it did when installed. It must be the brand. Some of the brands are dreadful. We played a game on that tan colored field at Belle Vernon this year and that surface is awful. Even the belle Vernon people hate it and it’s newer than ours.
Last edited:
When I was an undergrad, we would play flag football on the turf at Pitt Stadium.
Field goals could be kicked. However, the defense could not rush the kicker. Instead, they had to build a human pyramid that the kicker had to kick over.
Fortunately, we had a kicker on our intramural football team who played on Pitt's soccer team. All we had to do was cross mid-field and he was money.
We rode him all the way to the Campus Championship, beating the Dental School (many former Pitt football players went to Dental School in that era, so they were very good) in the Finals. We had a lot more talent than just him, but he was such a weapon that other teams could not match. They had to drive the length of the field on each possession to score, whereas we didn't have to. Those long field goals add up by the end of the game.
They played three games at once, across the width of the field, when I was in school. One night when we were playing on the middle of the three fields we had to stop our game because one of the teams playing on the end fields wanted to kick what ended up being around a 48 yard field goal, and the guy made it with ease. Of course as you say that was with no rush and the "pyramid defense", but man that dude kicked the crap out of that ball.
Was it Don Silvestri? He was spotted kicking in intramurals and became part of the football team. He ended up playing in the pros as well.
Three games at once is true. So is stopping one of the games nearest the goal posts for a kicker from the middle game.
I remember buying special spikes that were especially designed for articicial turf. Back in that era, nearly all of the high school stadiums had natural grass.
Good times...
No, he would have been a couple years later. This would have been the mid-80s. I don't remember if we knew the guy's name or not, but if I did I've long since forgot it.
