Tan Ko baseball field gets facelift

Three weeks ago a team from the Laolao Bay Golf Resort laid the first sprigs upon Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field in hopes that they would take root and start to reshape Saipan’s grandest diamond. Now the previously dirt-covered infield is shedding its Japanese-style look for that of Major League Baseball as the ballpark is getting greener everyday.

Players and coaches familiar with the field watched as a team of workers labored under the lights on Tuesday night spreading clippings and sand across the diamond. CNMI all-star John Reyes said that he is excited to get out onto the field when it’s ready for game play early next year, but for now said that he believes it will rival the top diamonds in the region.

“Seeing Palau and Guam’s grass infield, this one looks a lot better. Playing on a diamond is always fun. Playing on this diamond with a new field will be too. Hopefully the base path cutting looks nice and makes everything look brighter. We’re not used to it but eventually we will,” he said.

Laolao Bay’s golf course superintendent Tom McKenzie was also on hand at the Oleai Sports Complex Tuesday night as his team from the links was working with the staff from the DCCA’s Division of Parks and Recreation laying additional sprigs and sand.

He said that he was happy to see the joint efforts of the private and government sectors providing for the betterment of the Commonwealth.

“It’s our community contribution from Laolao Bay and UMDA to help get the field ready for the 2006 Micronesian Games and we’ve got the Parks and Recreation guys and our guys working together. It’s a process, but it’s fairly simple. It’s good that these guys are learning too. They were really amazed how quick the grass is growing in. It’s good. It’s a good community effort for the Micronesian Games. It’s only been less than 30 days and it’s growing in good now. Hopefully we’ll get the other side growing in just as good and we’ve got irrigation now. That should get it growing in quick,” he said.

McKenzie explained that the root structure from the clippings should take hold of the infield as long as it stays wet, and that the entire field should be ready to go by the end of February or the beginning of March.

Even though the infield looks almost ready to make the base path cutouts now, McKenzie said that the field is still in a delicate stage of the process and that any deviation could render the work done to date useless.

“We’re just trying to put on a cover so the grass won’t dry out as fast. The only thing you’ve got to feed this grass now is water because if it stays wet it’s going to grow.

We’ve got some fertilizer on the ground now, but if you don’t keep t wet now it’ll just wither up and dry out. Somebody has to be here to water this thing everyday. If we miss one day the grass will die. Especially at this point right now. If we miss one day of watering we’ll have to start all over again,” he said.

“They’ve done a heck of a job keeping it wet. Now the process starts of getting it ready. They’ve learned a heck of a lot. Now they’re ready to do it themselves,” he said.

Once the grass has take root, McKenzie said that the goal will be to get the field leveled and up to the same standards of the Laolao Bay Golf Resort Fairways in advance of the regional teams that will journey to Saipan next summer.

“All this will be level before we play on it. It’ll be just like the fairways at Laolao. That’s our goal—to make it as plush as possible. We’ll give these guys something good to play on so when the guys come over for the Games they will be in awe. We’ll show them what we can do.”