Published: October 28, 2009 07:55 am      

Teen organizes baseball field improvement

TRAVERSE CITY If you fix it, they will come.

The Grace Macdonald Park baseball field in East Bay Township will be ready for play when spring rolls around, thanks to the efforts of 14-year-old Dakota Porter.

"I love baseball and I went down to that field everyday," said Porter, a Boy Scout who was looking for an Eagle Scout project that really interested him.

That's when Porter came up with an idea that included both of his interests.

"The field was in bad shape and I wanted to fix it up," said Porter, who sought out approval from East Bay Township before beginning the improvement project in late September.

Once approval was given, Porter organized volunteers, collected donations and planned for the complete renovation of the township park baseball diamond.

"It turned out to be a lot more work than I ever thought it would be," said Porter, a ninth-grade student at Traverse City Central High School.

With the help of Jave Excavating, six inches of diamond dust, a product made of finely crushed brick used by baseball landscapers to absorb water from the infield, was removed from the infield before Great Lakes Outdoor Service and Toms Total Outdoor Maintenance leveled the field.

"We removed 32 yards, 20 years of diamond dust, with tractors and wheelbarrows," Porter said.

Seventy yards of topsoil, courtesy of Elmers, was spread before Lautner Irrigation installed a sprinkler system to the infield.

"People have been very generous, I couldn't have done it without them," said Porter, who also called on family and members of his Boy Scout Troop 115 to help with the labor-intensive work of laying sod and spreading new red diamond dust on the infield.

Other local contractors included Wade Trim who surveyed the bases and outfield fence line, TC Rentals who supplied equipment for infield work and a trailer to pick up sod and Tri Turf who helped with the red diamond dust.

Porter, who is hoping to complete his project before the snow flies, is still taking donations for the purchase of more red diamond dust and for the installation of an outfield fence.

For donation information, visit www.eastbaytwp.org.