It wasn’t that long ago an overnight storm dumping 3½ inches of rain would have kept Humboldt High’s baseball and softball teams idle for a day or three afterward.
No longer.
With both teams now at home at USD 258’s new sports complex, the biggest issue players and fans had was making sure they stayed on the sidewalks walking to either field.
Land surrounding the ball fields has not yet been seeded to grass, and thus was reduced to puddles and mud with the storms.
But the playing surfaces, complete with a state-of-the-art drainage system, were in tip-top shape.
“It really turned out great,” said Mike Miller, Humboldt baseball coach. “It could have been warmer, but nobody was complaining.”
Both fields feature artificial turf infields and sod outfields placed atop a layer of gravel and drainage pipes capable of handling the largest of monsoons. The fields themselves also have a 2 percent grade to facilitate any other water runoff.
Brad Piley, softball coach, recounted an early inadvertent test of the softball field.
A malfunctioning sprinkler system ran overnight recently, which normally would have left two inches or more of standing water on a regular field.
But the field was playable within an hour or two after the sprinklers were turned off.
Would the Lady Cubs have been able to play the day after a similar storm a year ago?
“No,” Piley said. “This field is remarkable.”
The storms preceded a strong cold front that whisked through the area Thursday afternoon.
Temperatures were in the 70s when both games started at 4:30 p.m., but dropped into the upper 40s by the time the final softball game ended about 3 1/2 hours later.
That did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowds that filled much of the grandstands of both ball fields and had scores of others meandering back and forth during the games.
The baseball and softball teams return home Tuesday to host Burlington.
