I see that the Midwest Championships in Kansas City in April will be played on a complex with baseball fields. Since the fields appear to be 330 - 400 feet (according to their website) does anyone know if temporary fences, at more reasonable distances, will be installed for softball? Thanks.
The fields are 330-400 so if the ball gets past your outfielders unless Usain Bolt is on your team its going to be an inside the park HR. I am hoping temp fences will be installed for the tournament. Its really tough on older players. I know of at least 2 KC area team that will not play in this tournament unless there are temp fences this year. This is a brand new beautiful turf complex with 8 diamonds but all were built as baseball fields.
We played there last year without temporary fencing. I play outfield and with the turf and distance of the fence I was very happy we had 6 outfielder to rotate every other inning!
From the SSUSA tournament E-Mail about the fences at the Midwest Tournament.
Session 1 will have regulation fences at the fields.
Well thats interesting, but what's the definition of "regulation"? Will there be temporary fences on the fields or will they simply be using the existing baseball dimensions? You could make the case both would be considered "regulation".
Interesting, the way they state that makes me think for session 2 we'll be dealing with full size baseball fields.
Not having fencing up for any session is a mistake. The list of teams that will come will be shorter each year. We are softball players, not baseball players.
I should clarify that these are some of the most beautiful fields you can play on, and a fantastic complex. I just wouldn't want to be an outfielder if there are no temporary fences.
It would be nice to know the definition of "regulation." A senior softball tournament player like myself would expect that to mean 300' fencing. That means putting up the temporary fences, at least for Session 1. Please, SSUSA Tournament Director, simply answer this question definitively!!!
For Session #1, the tournament will be played on four of the eight fields at the facility. Those four fields will have "regulation" fencing, which means at least 300' distance from home plate (See Rulebook §2.5 on page 12). Temporary fencing will be utilized to reduce the distances from the permanent facility fence configuration. For Session #2, we will be using all eight fields, half of which will be the same fields, and configuration, from Session #1. The other four fields will not have temporary fencing.
