Horsham Township Ball Fields

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sixofdiamonds
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Re: Horsham Township Ball Fields

Post by sixofdiamonds »

To Mark Hudson:
Hi Mark,

I know you’ve had your back to the wall this year with losing Rick Lutz and having to deal with horrific weather, but the field conditions at Lukens 3 and Cedar Hill are getting seriously bad. In the 15+ years I’ve been leasing ball fields from Horsham Township, I have never seen the ball field conditions anywhere near as bad as they are now. The Lukens 3 infield is at least 30% covered with weeds. Timmy can’t even drag the field anymore. Cedar Hill has just as many infield weeds along with part of the plastic liner pushing through near 2nd base. After 3 months of dealing with loose bases, Ian finally resolved the issue. My league members are all over me about field conditions. I have never had the number of complaints I’ve gotten this year. It’s scary.

I like Ian. I think his intentions are good and his heart is in the right place, but he seems overwhelmed. Is there anything you can do to help get these fields more playable for the remainder of the softball year?

Thanks,
Les
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sixofdiamonds
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Re: Horsham Township Ball Fields

Post by sixofdiamonds »

Les,

Yes we will remove the dead weeds, rake them to a pile and take them off the field. We then hope to bring more infield mix in to regrade the field and reclaim the boarders.

Best Wishes,

Ian Hammer
Assistant Director of Public Works
Horsham Township
1005 Horsham Rd.
Horsham, PA 19044
O: 215-672-6913
F: 215-672-0849
ihammer@horsham.org
www.horsham.org

On Aug 28, 2018, at 6:45 AM, Softball America wrote:

Once the weeds die off, is there a plan in place to remove them?


From: Ian Hammer [mailto:ihammer@horsham.org]
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2018 6:42 AM
To: Softball America
Cc: Dennis Haggerty; Mark Hudson
Subject: Re: Cedar Hill

Good morning Les,

We had a staff member start spraying the field yesterday afternoon and will continue on the field today. I apologize for the current conditions but we will get them back to the quality you and your league members know and love. We take pride in our Township appearance and we will do our best to provide you with the best experience we can.

Best Wishes,

Ian Hammer
Assistant Director of Public Works
Horsham Township
1005 Horsham Rd.
Horsham, PA 19044
O: 215-672-6913
F: 215-672-0849
ihammer@horsham.org
www.horsham.org

On Aug 28, 2018, at 6:37 AM, Softball America wrote:

Ian,

I seriously hope you do. Cedar Hill is a lawsuit waiting to happen. The same holds true for Lukens 3. I don’t know what happened, but the Horsham Township fields used to be the best around. My league members always commented to that affect. Now they’re barely playable. I still believe topsoil was put down on those fields. Weeds and grass take a lot longer to germinate in infield mix than topsoil. Those weeds grew this year like they were on steroids.

I am not using the fields again until September 9th. Please do whatever you can to make the fields at least playable.

Thank you,
Les

PS- Thank you for spraying those wasps. They were nasty.



From: Ian Hammer [mailto:ihammer@horsham.org]
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2018 8:51 AM
To: Softball America
Cc: Dennis Haggerty; Mark Hudson
Subject: Re: Cedar Hill

Les,

Mark reached out to me regarding your concern with Cedar Hill’s softball field. We will address this issue. We also sprayed the bees at Lukens 3. Hopefully they will stop bothering the players.

Best Wishes,

Ian Hammer
Assistant Director of Public Works
Horsham Township
1005 Horsham Rd.
Horsham, PA 19044
O: 215-672-6913
F: 215-672-0849
ihammer@horsham.org
www.horsham.org
jstepo32
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Re: Horsham Township Ball Fields

Post by jstepo32 »

Thanks for keeping us in the loop and getting on the township. Hopefully us guys in B-North will have a nice infield come September 9th.
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sixofdiamonds
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Re: Horsham Township Ball Fields

Post by sixofdiamonds »

As promised, Ian Hammer (Horsham Township) has made things happen. My hope is this will more than make up for the horrendous conditions we suffered through last year.
Good morning Les,

I have attached a couple photos of the work the contractors completed at the ball fields. They dug out the batter boxes and installed clay bricks for strength to prevent wash outs and recovered with material, redefined the borders, installed new break away bases and anchors to proper dimensions and added infield material where needed. I hope these corrections provide more enjoyable playing conditions for all athletic events in attendance. Look forward to another good, but dry year.

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sixofdiamonds
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Re: Horsham Township Ball Fields

Post by sixofdiamonds »

On Aug 26, 2019, at 7:59 AM, Softball America <softball <at> cuttingedgesports.net> wrote:

Hi Ian,

I just want to extend to you a sincere debt of gratitude for all the hard work you’ve put into the ball fields. What a difference from last year to this year! While complaints will always outnumber compliments, I know league members are very pleased by the sheer absence of complaints.

Thank you once again,
Les
Good morning Les,

Thank you for reaching out with the gratitude. Seems as though society finds it much easier to point out flaws and mistakes but lacks the ability to show appreciation. These kind words go a long way in our field. I will send the gratitude and kind words on to the staff to let them know their efforts and hard work are not going unnoticed. We plan to continue this field work and routine maintenance through the winter and into the coming seasons. Please do not ever hesitate to reach out with anything you or the league may need. Have a great remainder of your season and summer.

Best Wishes,

Ian R. Hammer MPA, CPSI
Director of Public Works
Horsham Township
1005 Horsham Rd.
Horsham, PA 19044
O: 215-672-6913
F: 215-672-0849
ihammer@horsham.org
www.horsham.org
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sixofdiamonds
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Re: Horsham Township Ball Fields

Post by sixofdiamonds »

Ian's email address is listed above. If you are happy about the condition of the Horsham Township ball fields, it would be really nice if you could reach out to Ian and let him and his crew know. I'm sure doing so would be greatly appreciated. As Ian stated, "These kind words go a long way in our field".

Thanks,
Les
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