BY ERIC MCCARTHY
The Journal-Pioneer
TIGNISH ‹ Tignish recreation director, Amy Duncan let out a huge sigh of relief when it was announced funding was secured to carry out improvements to the community¹s baseball diamond.
Duncan said the ball field upgrade will be completed the week of Aug. 21. Good thing, too; Tignish will co-host, with Summerside, Baseball Canada¹s 2006 Midget Boys national championship, starting three days later.
The Tignish diamond will play host to as many as 14 games during the four-day tournament.
Tignish will host all but one of the preliminary round games between Pool A teams (Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Ontario). A game featuring Pool B teams, the P.EI. hosts and Quebec, will also be played in Tignish, and the Tignish field will host three playoff games.
Two weeks ago everything got approved and we started moving, said Duncan. Work on the infield started Aug. 2.²
A project Tignish Initiatives was working on was amended so ballfield improvements could be included. The village and the Tignish Sports Association will have to pick up some of the costs.
The City of Summerside's maintenance department has assisted the community with repairs and loaned equipment to help spread shale over the infield. The shale was subsequently covered with rock dust. A new pitcher¹s mound was installed and a six-foot warning track was laid along the outfield fence.
Most of the fence is the original, just straightened and tightened, but there¹s a new fence down the left field line. It stands 20 feet high because the left field is 38 feet short of the recommended 302-foot distance. Balls that clear the 20-foot fence shall be deemed to have been hit long enough to clear a regulation height fence on a regulation-sized field.
Just as noticeable and as impressive as the tall green fence is the new backstop being erected this week. The main section is 60 feet wide and 20 feet high before the overhang.
New dugouts still have to be built.
