New Baseball Turf: `Field of Dreams`

Of all the benefits touted when the new turf was installed on the football and multipurpose fields earlier in the school year, one of the most impressive was the fact it would be able to withstand adverse weather conditions allowing for practices and games when a soil field would have prevented them. The baseball team recently saw exactly what that meant for them and the News-Herald took notice. Below is the paper`s nod to what it called Hawken`s \"Field of Dreams.\" Field of Dreams The first showdown between Hawken`s new artificial turf field and Mother Nature went to the Hawks` home diamond. While most of the area teams practiced inside or sat home last Saturday, the wind and rain didn`t prevent Hawken from hosting a doubleheader against Chagrin Falls. \"It`s tremendous,\" Hawken coach Aaron Brandt said. \"On a day like (last Saturday) where there`s probably maybe three games being played in the whole city, we`re one of them. It`s a blessing and a curse at times (being able to play despite adverse weather), because at times, you might want a day off. \"But you get to play. And in my mind, any day you get to play is a great thing.\" Brandt also spoke of some of the adjustments you have to make when playing on the artificial turf. \"The biggest issue was sliding,\" Brandt said. \"It`s not a big issue for us because we have practiced on it enough that our kids have learned that you can slide a little bit earlier. But there are some other teams that have come in here and have overslid a couple of bases. So that`s definitely a concern.\"