The local high school baseball season is set to begin tomorrow.
Unfortunately, for the second time in three years, the Weehawken High School baseball team will have to play its games in locations other than the humble confines of Weehawken Stadium – at least for the time being.
Because of a severe drainage problem that endangered the use of the newly refurbished $2.5 million facility for many years to come, township officials have decided to repair the drainage dilemma as quickly as possible. The repairs have to be done immediately, even if it means that the field will be off limits for the first month of the high school baseball season.
According to Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, the drainage problems have always plagued Weehawken Stadium, basically because the rainwater has no place to seep down to – considering that the facility was built into the rock that hovers above the Lincoln Tunnel.
“There is never any natural drainage there, because the tunnel is underneath,” Turner said. “Historically, we’ve always had problems. We noticed last year that the field wasn’t draining properly, so we contacted the contractor who did the original work and told him that he had to redo the drainage.”
Considering that refurbishing work, completed in September of 1999 in time for the football season, was still under warranty, all necessary repairs will be done at no cost to the township.
“We paid a lot of money to fix the field in the first place,” Turner said. “It’s best to fix it now, while it’s still under warranty.”
The field’s existing sod had to be removed, while the playing surface, especially down the third base and left field lines, were sloped and graded, in order to provide proper drainage when it rains.
The initial work began in December, after the high school football season was completed. Surveyors conducted tests to see just how much of a slope the field needed to provide necessary drainage. The actual reconstruction of the field was slated to begin soon after, but Mother Nature was less than cooperative over the winter.
“The field was under snow for most of the winter,” Turner said. “If the winter had been shorter, the work would have been done by now. The only time to do such a project is in the winter, when the field isn’t in use. But unfortunately, we had a long, dragged-out winter and the work couldn’t be completed. We want to make sure it’s done right, so we don’t have to worry about it for another 10 years. We have a state-of-the-art facility and we want it to remain that way.”
According to Weehawken athletic director Richard Terpak, the baseball team will have to make do playing on the road until May.
“I’ve been told May 1 is the target date, so we’re going with that,” Terpak said. “We’ve done our best with the situation, flip-flopping our games with our league [Bergen County Scholastic League] opponents, so when we had a home game scheduled in April, it’s now a road game, and then they’ll come to us. We’ve had to move a few games to Kane Stadium in Secaucus. We’ve been practicing at either Kane or Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus.” Added Terpak, “I feel bad for the junior varsity program. They might have to be the road warriors this year, because I don’t know if they’ll get a chance to play at the stadium at all.”
Terpak said that head baseball coach Tony Colasurdo and his players have all expressed their disappointment about having to face life on the road again.
“That’s only natural to be disappointed,” Terpak said. “Any coach would be. But I think everyone understands what’s going on. It’s a temporary setback. That’s how we’re looking at it. If we have to be on the road for the first month of the season, then we’ll get the benefit of being home for the remainder of the year.”
Turner understands the anguish that the baseball players are experiencing. It’s Opening Day and they’re on the road for a month. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.
“The kids lose a month, but we’ll be better off in the long run,” Turner said. “It would be far worse if we didn’t get it corrected properly now. I can understand the disappointment of the players, but we spent $2.5 million on the field and we need to take corrective actions. It’s better than having no field all year. It’s a one-month inconvenience.”
Turner assured that further work was being done daily at the site, like the installation of new sod, in order to maintain the May 1 target date.
“Two-thirds of the new sod was put down this week,” Turner said. “The rest will be put in place when the rains end on Monday.”