The Yard

so sad that they are converting from baseball fields to soccer. Was a great place for a tournament…

Making money off $ 5 parking but no return to the terrible set up meaning no over head protection for people or cars. All day long you see foul balls hitting cars and nearly hitting people. Limited parking, filthy restrooms, and limited to no bleachers depending what field you are on. Side note, someone must have been turned around numbering the fields. They are in no order. 5 is before 1 and 6 is on the other side of the park. The city or the league that hosts tournaments weekly should be looking for solutions to the hazards and or lack of accommodation for their kids and parents spending a lot of money on food, parking, and tournament fees.

I went here over the Thanksgiving weekend for a baseball tournament. There are 4 baseball fields of differing sizes. There is not much in the way of bleachers so bring a camp chair. It was sunny and the dugouts had no shade. Luckily one of the parents had a tarp which we jerry-​rigged into a shade, using bungee cords.
Parking is $ 5, but you get a coupon for $ 2 off the snack bar for use that day. There are also in/​out privileges so you can run out for coffee or lunch if you’re there all day, as we were.
The field conditions were average. Dirt infield. Outfield a little spotty. The pitching mounds are temporary and no metal spikes are allowed on pitchers. Our coaches didn’t tell us in advance so we were in a bind. However, the tournament organizer had extra shoes with rubber cleats that you could borrow — smart planning.
Apart from the limited seating and general run-​down appearance, my biggest gripe is the lack of a proper baseball backstop or other protective fencing to keep the balls from flying out of the field. The backstops are the smaller rounded softball backstops with not much overhang. Most of the parking is right next to the fields and we saw several cars get hit by foul balls. That’s a real hazard and one that can be planned for and fixed.

The fields/​park itself is nice and decently maintained, but good luck if you want to book the place for a softball league. The person managing the fields (George) is very disorganized, a poor communicator, and simply not good at his job. They really need to put a new person in charge of this place.
During our 10 week season at The Yard:
–We were stood up for our initial meeting (George didn’t show up, no phone call, wouldn’t answer calls)
–Email communication was slow or non-​existent
–Equipment (home plate mats) that I specifically confirmed ahead of time would be there were not
–When our teams arrived for the last game of the season, the fields were under construction. After several emails and phone calls (and over a month of waiting), we still have not received a refund (~$ 100).
It’s unforunate this convenient place to play is so poorly managed. I wanted to be able to use these fields for future seasons, but I simply can’t justify it after such lousy (and unethical) customer service.