More monstrous Field gets fence improved

By Mike McDonald
Collegian Editor
October 17, 2007

With all the construction taking place on campus, changes to the athletic fields only seem natural. And what’s more natural than a huge, green, chain-link fence?

Due to modifications made to the left field fence at Hank DeVincent Field, La Salle now has its own version of Fenway Park’s Green Monster.

Angelo Ratini - Already painted, the fence is also set to receive padding.

“The fence was made taller because there were too many balls going over, and there were some windows broken last year,” Director of Athletic Communication Kale Beers said.

“And it actually wasn’t baseball; it was field hockey. When they would do rapid-fire at practice, a lot of balls would go over the fence.”

Some of the players say the fence may cost them some individual statistics, but overall, it will help the team.

“I’m not a big fan of it, considering I can’t hit it out,” sophomore infielder Kevin Prendergast said. “But it’s probably going to help us, because we got beaten by the long ball last year.”

Completed at the beginning of this school year, the fence has already taken on several different appearances.

It started off a plain silver color. After that, large blue tarps were added to provide a solid backdrop for the batter’s eye of the baseball field. Before long, however, the tarps were taken down and the fence was painted green. The painting has been completed, and now the fence stands green with blue padding around the lower portions of the fence posts.

According to Athletic Communication, the fence had to be painted to prevent it from rusting. The blue tarp will be put back up by the time baseball season rolls around.

At the other end of the field, brand new batting cages have been constructed, and now the baseball team has a better venue to fine-tune their swings.

“I like them a lot,” Prendergast said. “They’re a lot better than last year’s cages. They really did a good job with them.”

According to Beers, more new developments are waiting on the horizon. At the time when construction was done on McCarthy Stadium’s lighting system, the supports and infrastructure for a lighting system at DeVincent Field was put in place.

At some point, Beers said the lights will be erected, and Hank DeVincent Field will host night games just like McCarthy Stadium does now.

“I think it would be really exciting to have night baseball games here at La Salle,” junior accounting/finance major Bill Capece said. “I would definitely be more likely to go to the games if they were under the lights.”

A quick cross-campus trip away lies another field that will be seeing some changes. The softball field that exists now will be no more, as changes will be made to the Good Shepherd Parking Lot. As the fall winds down, the squad will continue to use the Good Shepherd field. But for the spring season, the team will need to relocate.

The eventual home of the Explorer softball team will be on the all-new West Campus. However, this field will not be fully prepared in time for spring, so the team will have to play somewhere else for its 2008 season. It is anticipated that the new West Campus field will be used for practice, even though the games will be held elsewhere.

“It takes about a year to cultivate a field,” Beers said. “The team will be playing at an off-campus location this spring.”

Talks are currently taking place to determine the softball team’s home for the spring 2008 season, but a deal has not yet been finalized.

Between the changes to the baseball fence, the batting cages and the softball field, the landscape of Explorer sports is taking on a fresh, new appearance. And a lot less home runs.

mcdonaldm2@lasalle.edu