During an early 8 a.m. meeting athletic director Scott Garcia informed the GlenOak softball team of a major decision that had been made.

Then on April 16, the GlenOak baseball team sat down in the locker room as they waited for Garcia to make the same announcement before they traveled to play Green.

 Little did they know that this announcement would not only change the future of their very own home field, but also the softball field as well.

“We walked in not expecting it at all, however when our coach and Garcia walked in delighted and smiling, we knew we were fine,” sophomore softball player Lexie Groves said. “We were all super excited, we started cheering and laughing.”

After years of speculation if or when it would happen, both fields are now set to have the infield section turfed. This is coming after a spring where many games have been canceled due to weather conditions such as heavy rain that lasted weeks and caused fields to be unplayable. 

“We have had three games get rescheduled due to the weather, while also having more get canceled because other teams need to make up games,” junior varsity baseball player Ethan Krum said.

With both fields being all-natural grass, these weather conditions make the field unplayable. However now with the turf, there is no more worries of puddles in different areas or the dirt being turned into sludge.

“We have to dump a bunch of bags of Diamond Dry and Field Conditioner after we suck up all the water with shop vacs,” Krum said. “After it soaks for a bit we rake it and let the air or even the sun dry it out.”

Although the field may be smaller, the softball field can take just as much effort to clean up and prepare. 

“We have a parent that does most of the work, but if we need to we will come in and rake the fields and clean the dugouts if it is too wet,” Groves said.

According to WTOL11, as of April. 26, 15 in. of rain has fallen in less than four months. Making this spring the wettest start to the year.

“We had a game scheduled at Canal Park to play Nordonia but due to storms we weren’t able to play that,” Krum said. “We also had a game against Perry postponed during the third inning which we then had to finish three weeks later.”

Now with the turf fields, both teams can play more games no matter the weather conditions. The rain will still affect the turf as it will make it slippery and the ball will roll faster, but it is better than not playing at all and waiting to make up the games. Other Federal League schools that have turf on baseball fields are Hoover, Jackson and Mckinley.

“It’s definitely better than playing on wet dirt or mud,” Groves said. “Honestly playing on wet turf is kind of fun because you can slide super far and stuff like that.”