The school district has been rolling out various updates, with funding from two bonds passed in previous years, including the funding for the track to be resurfaced as well as updating and adding more lights to the sports complex. Now, the baseball and softball teams are getting turf.
“We want to keep these students obviously on the cutting edge with all things, whether it be academic, athletic, all of those things,” athletic coordinator Clayton Maple said.
Turf was first added to the baseball and softball fields a few years ago at Humble High School. The bonds then allowed it to be added at every other high school as well.
“So we’re actually the last school for the district to get the baseball/softball turf, but it is well worth the wait,” softball coach Lindsay Gregory said. “We are happy to have it.”
The old fields forced the teams to depend heavily on good weather. Heavy rains forced practices to be relocated indoors and games were sometimes moved to neutral sites with turf. The teams also had to spend hours getting the field ready to use after rainy days.
“[With the turf fields] we can practice at any time, we don’t have to worry about tarping the field anymore,” Gregory said.
The new field will also help some players during games.
“As a hitter in games, I’d rather have [turf] because I know the ball will bounce, which that’s what I need,” senior Bailey Kee said. “When we had our dirt, it was really soft and wasn’t working to my ability.”
While the fields have been under construction since mid-September, softball and baseball have practiced in their batting cages and on grass fields near the north end of the school. Softball has also been working with the Kingwood Girls Softball Association to use their softball fields near campus.
“[KGSA has] been awesome working with us,” Gregory said.
The north end of the school has always had three grass practice fields for teams to share. Because of all of the construction across campus, one of the practice fields is being used for drainage to help reduce the risk of flooding on rainy days.
“They have to increase the amount of drainage available now because of all the new construction,” Maple said. “This third field, it will now completely be for drainage only, we won’t use that as a field. We will have these two [practice fields] for all the sports to share and use as they need.”
The softball team is ready to utilize these new changes.
“This is gonna be a huge boost for heading into a new season,” Gregory said. “New field, new coaching staff, and we are in a win now mode.”
