The Melfort Minor Softball Association has addressed the city regarding the state of the Spruce Haven ball diamonds and surrounding infrastructure. (Cam Lee/northeastNOW)

By Cam Lee

Diamond concerns

Concerns about Melfort’s Spruce Haven ball diamonds brought to city

Jul 26, 2024 | 3:21 PM

The Melfort Minor Softball Association (MMSA) has aired some grievances about the ball diamonds at Spruce Haven.

An MMSA delegation addressed the city’s Governance and Priorities Committee meeting this week to alert them of concerns about the state of the diamonds, which were constructed prior to the 1988 Saskatchewan Summer Games.

On the delegation request form, the MMSA said the ball diamonds were in “desperate need of proper maintenance”, including inadequate field drainage, lack of weed control, and a request to turn the shale.

The committee heard that the boards in some of the bleachers also needed maintenance, as a person fell through a rotten board. The MMSA also said the bleachers desperately need to be painted.

The letter also cited other issues with the infrastructure, stating that the canteen and bathroom needed an upgrade “or at the very minimum some renovations”, calling the state of the facilities “embarrassingly poor”.

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The MMSA added they had to clean the canteen for three hours before it passed a health inspection, and the last renter hadn’t cleaned food from the building, leading to the canteen being “full of mouse feces”.

Another issue for the MMSA was the playing surface, with the bases set to improper distances and lines not being chalked. They said they were also unable to get into the equipment room to chalk the lines themselves.

Director of Community Services Rob Lok told northeastNOW the city has taken steps to improve the service at the ball diamonds.

“For the first time in a number of years we’ve had a full-time groundsperson on-site there this spring Monday through Friday,” said Lok. “We had a work-bee earlier this spring to try and get some work done at the ball diamonds.”

Lok said some of the concern was the shale infield surface, with an MMSA request for a deep turning of the shale, and the turf buildup between the shale and the grass.

“That requires some specialized equipment and laser levelling to…regrade those fields,” Lok said, adding that they will have to consider doing that through the budgetary process. According to Lok, the work required to fix the shale issue isn’t something that can be added to the crew’s duties.

Lok said the city is happy to continue to work with the MMSA and are proud they continue to use the facilities.

“We want to continue to work with them in years going forward and continue to see ball played here in Melfort.”

MMSA President Jessie Spencer told northeastNOW she was pleased with how her information was received at the meeting. She said there was some good discussion and most in attendance agreed the diamonds are not up to the standards they should be.

“We very much want to work together to come up with a solution,” said Spencer, adding that they want to be able to hold more tournaments, including provincials, and cannot do that with the current state of the diamonds.

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Cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @northeastNOW_SK