You don’t need to experience the capacity of NewBridge Bank Park to drain water to realize they built this baseball park right; you can look at the calendar to see how many games were called for rain. There aren’t that many!
This past Saturday, I was at the park early for a Season Ticket Holder Batting Practice Event. When I arrived, it was cloudy; but within minutes the players cleared the field and the tarp crew had covered the field. By 5:15 PM, it had started to rain. By 5:45 PM, we could not see the buildings across the street.
There was rain and hail at first. I thought we were going to have a white field, covered with hail. The rain was falling pretty heavily. Lightning was flashing around. The wind was blowing in several directions.
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The pictures, which there are several, really don’t do the amount of rain justice. Water was covering almost the entire field. There was standing water on the infield.
Eventually, the rain slowed down. It finally stopped raining. Within minutes, the standing water was gone. Absorbed through the ground and the massive drainage system hidden under the field.
As soon as the Grasshoppers were confident that the rain was through for that time, the Tarp Crew removed the tarp, rolling it back in place for the next rain storm. The Grounds Crew took the field, adding a little clay filler to some wet areas.
By 7:30 the teams were warming up on the field. The game started a little after 8.