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| March 15, 2025 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: ST George - The Fields at Little Valley I would have agreed about Gubler a couple years back Dave, but the fields there have improved and the LV fields have declined... rather dramatically. Again, your point of pepsi vs coke is understood-- this is all subjective/matter of opinion. LV is super convenient for me because I have a home 1 min away, but I would still prefer Gubler (20 mins away) over LV in it's current state. Maybe too I have been swayed by just how stupid the neighborhood is when a home run ball end up in the yard. People have threatened to call cops and have been very vocal (walking to field, raising voice and taking license plate numbers/taking pictures) when we hit on field #1. Field #4 is the only truly safe field to hit on, unless school is in session. For 90% of the 60AAA hitters it won't matter, but it will only take 1 ball over the net for the neighborhood to get stupid. My hope is that this is much ado about nothing and we can hit real balls all weekend and there are no issues. Everyone can live with the brown/ugly grass. Diesel Dan (whom I know) is 100% correct about left field on field #4 in it's current state (this week, not rumored... I just hit there Monday). It's not good. With that said, we are playing softball and having fun no matter what field we play on. |
| March 15, 2025 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: ST George - The Fields at Little Valley I was really surprised we are playing 60AAA games at Little Valley. I hit weekly there, so I know the fields very well. First, Kudos to Senior Softball for understanding a bit where the trouble fields are-- I see minimal games scheduled on Field #3, which has a home that is in play for any long hitter, even 60 year olds. The other main trouble spot is field #1 in Right field. The home owners behind that field have often times tried to chase us away when we hit there. My hope is that we do not end up with oatmeal balls, which nobody wants. My issue with Little Valley is that the city has really let these fields go. It used to be that saint george fields were the standard-- beautiful places to play and worth traveling to. I believe people will be surprised how crappy the Little Valley fields look right now (as of today). It's an expensive place to travel to, but at least the experience was great because of the venue. The fields aren't that any more, especially Little Valley. I know this is subjective-- just my opinion. Whoever is playing left field on field 4 at Little Valley, make sure you bring your mud shoes, since a big chunk of left field is a mess down the line. Unless a miracle happens in the next 3 days (they are getting rain and cold weather and recently fertilized), you will see brown, ugly fields. The infields are good, so no worries there. Litlte Valley fields used to be amazing year-round. Not so much any more. I wish they could have gotten Gubler Fields in Santa Clara, which right now are much better fields than Little Valley. It didn't used to be that way at Gubler, but they are clearly better since they removed the temporary fencing and completed the fields a couple years back. Guessing Mesquite fields and Gubler were not available. |
| March 18, 2022 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Balls in St George I play 60M. The ball is 44 cor/400. I was at Hunter Park and played in 2 games and watched at least 2 or three others. I did not see a single home run. The wind did kick up a bit in the afternoon. It's true both teams use the same ball, so no sense making too big a deal about it. It definitely favors the base hitters. |
| April 19, 2021 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Southwest Tournament I played at Cheyenne and BLD this tournament and visited Sunset and Hollywood to see friends play. Folks SSUSA can only do so much. There are far too many teams and too few quality venues in LV to make everyone happy. Not everyone can play at Arroyo Grande, BLD, and Lorenzi is out of commission. More than half of the divisions aren't going to love where they get assigned to play. Senior Softball can't make the folks re-build the burned out bathrooms at Cheyenne (3 years running I believe), the lack of upkeep at BLD (despite $6/person it appears they do little to maintain the place-- I played outfield in Dodger stadium and there appeared to be more dirt than grass), etc. I am actually impressed with all of the juggling that had to happen to even pull off this thing. In speaking to the TD at Cheyenne, local officials did not want us there and if they saw non-compliance with masks we would be shut down. Despite all of this, the tourney went on with little to no incidents that I am aware of. My friends that traveled from CA were so happy just to be somewhere to play competitive softball. It's true some fields are not great. That's not a SSUSA thing. That's a Las Vegas City/lack of $$$ thing. You can't polish a turd. |
| April 13, 2021 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Southwest Tournament https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcetSf-AVcI Review is a couple years old. The snack bar/bathroom improvements were much needed. Previously, the bathrooms were a bus ride away (way down past the parking lot in the rec center). The actual fields are ok, not great, but playable. Lots of weeds, holes in outfield to contend with, although I have not seen the fields in the past year. Please make sure you lock your car or leave nothing in the back of your truck. I have heard of multiple incidents where things disappear from cars/trucks in the parking lot. Not the worse place to play. I am sure SSUSA will get the city to address the weeds/holes in the outfield. The softball fields are 1, 2, and 4. Number 4 is the newest of them. The little league field (#3) is not big enough to hit on, but good for warming up or infield before you play on the other fields. The best part of the fields are the covered bleachers on fields 1&2. You/spectators can get out of the sun. I don't believe field #4 has covered bleachers, but that might have changed or maybe I have misremembered. |
| March 6, 2021 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Hotels jacking prices for SSUSA tournaments If you are playing in Saint George and do not already have your hotel worked out, you are in for quite a shock. Really sketchy motels are going for $250-$300/night. The town is booked solid and you are SOL if you don't have a reservation. I just tried Hotels.com for a room in Mesquite and there were none available, and that is 30-45mins away. |
| Aug. 26, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: field assignments 1 more thing (sorry)... I know of only 1 St George-based team that was scheduled to play at Western Championships. That team sadly pulled out before the tourney started, meaning every other team was made up primarily of people traveling to Saint George and spending money there in Saint George. With all other events this year cancelled in Saint George (Marathon, Huntsman, triathlon, etc) I am guessing the businesses were happy we came, even though a tile or two may have been broken. |
| Aug. 26, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: field assignments But we (tournaments played in Saint George) do bring in serious cash to the restaurants, hotels, and other local businesses, and many of them vote too. I know this is different, but Huntsman brings 300+ softball teams to Saint George over a 2 week span and they dump a lot of money into that economy. Totally agree we need to play nice, but every single one of those people bought their houses knowing a ballpark was right there. The 1 really badly positioned house on field 3 (the one Kevin hit) sat vacant for a long time because most intelligent people understood it was stupid to buy that house so close to the park. I don't want to turn this into a saint george thing (such a small part of the SSUSA universe), but it's just a shame due to how nice these places are to play that someone allowed houses to be built that close. This has ramifications for potentially spring world venue assignments and huntsman going into the future. |
| Aug. 26, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: field assignments Dave-- that is crazy.... basically anything short of an oatmeal ball or ball of yarn will not please them. |
| Aug. 26, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: field assignments Field #3 at canyons can reach the street and traffic IF (big if) it gets through the trees. In theory, it could hit into the street potentially hitting traffic or bounce into the street and hop over the fence into a yard. I agree-- a little odd and not totally likely to happen, but ok. |
| Aug. 24, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: field assignments For those of you unfamiliar with the Lorenzi situation in Vegas, I understand the guy who owned a house just outside fence in LC on one of the fields got so upset after his house was repeatedly hit he came out to fight everyone. The city (Las Vegas) received so many complaints they turned 2 fields of the 4 plex into soccer fields and basically made the venue impossible to schedule. It was a shame too, they were great fields to play at- in my opinion 3rd best complex in Vegas after Arroyo Grande and BLD. Little Valley might end up going that way too, which sucks because they are very nice fields. I hope that doesn't happen and cooler heads prevail. The right solution is raising the secondary netting on a couple of the fields-- problem solved. One thing Dave-- I do know 55 AAA players that rake too (houses aren't totally safe).... |
| Aug. 24, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: field assignments A friend was scheduling the little valley fields for batting practice and found out the phones rang often that Monday morning after the tournament complaining about balls in yards, hitting roof tiles, etc. There is even a petition going around that neighbors want to ban adult men from playing on those fields in the future. We'll see what happens... maybe another Lorenzi situation. |
| Aug. 13, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising wrong again-- they were shifted completely away from Little Valley (smart move) |
| Aug. 13, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising actually, I stand corrected-- they were moved off that field (thank goodness). Now instead of hitting the houses, they are hitting into the street and childrens playground on field #1 (even easier to reach than the houses on field #3). |
| Aug. 13, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising Dan-- If you want to see real fireworks, 40 Major Plus teams are playing on Field #3 at Little Valley on Saturday-- that field where the two houses are in play. Whoever scheduled 40 Major Plus teams on #3 at Little Valley clearly either doesn't know the venue at all or didn't think it through. I am planning on watching with an insurance agent buddy that has pre-filled claim forms for home owners for roof tiles, windows, etc. Should be really interesting! |
| Aug. 13, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising Good advice-- start the water asap. Keep it flowing all weekend. It's also great advice to watch others to make sure they are ok. It could be worse-- some of you could still be scheduled in Mesquite this weekend, where it will hit a toasty 116 sunday.... |
| Aug. 12, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising Thanks MB-- appreciate the well wishes |
| Aug. 12, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising for scores (or at least so far), go to western nationals pink box on top of message board. go to schedules and look there. Right now it shows seed game records and scores of yesterdays games. Hopefully this will continue to be updated. It's very nice and allows people to see when their buddies play on other fields, allowing people to see the games they want to see or follow the tournament from afar if you are unable to play/attend for some reason. It's been asked for multiple times for many years, and this is a great thing that should be applauded by all. I know it's not easy and we appreciate it. |
| Aug. 12, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising another thing as you all prepare-- there is no bleacher cover/shade at Bloomington, Gubler and Hurricane (dugouts are covered). If people are coming to watch, make sure they bring something to keep sun off of them. Bleachers and dugouts covered at Little Valley and Canyons. |
| Aug. 12, 2020 Jon44 | Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Saint George Temp Rising yes-- you did say that. My bad. Maybe Little Valley, Bloomington, Gubler, Hurricane could be adjusted a bit. I was just pointing out a potential solution to a problem that comes with playing in extreme heat. I am sure you guys are all over it and will look at that. I live in the desert and used to some of this, but many aren't and it was tough seeing people hauled off in Yuma when it was really hot. Either way, the advice given earlier is spot on- start hydrating well in advance of friday and stay away from things that don't help when playing in heat. |
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