Fields

The designated home team is responsible for field setup and takedown.  Usually this is done by two parents of players on the team, as scheduled by your team manager or coach.

FIELD SETUP

1. Remove the tarps, tires, and weights from the mound and plate area.  Store them on the outside of the fence.
2. Rake and level the home plate area.  If necessary, add some red shale to remove depressions.
3. Rake the mound so the area in front of the pitcher's plate and the pivot food landing area is smooth and hard-packed.
4. If needed, use the dragger on the infield
5. Using field paint, the batter's box template, and the guiding string, create a batter's box and put down foul lines down the 1st and 3rd base lines.  We do not create a runner's lane down the first baseline or make a catcher's box.  Place empty paint cans into the recycling bins.
6. Put out the 1st, and 2nd, and 3rd base bags.  There are anchors the bases plug into.  On Chaldecott North, be aware that there are different anchors for U13 and U15.  U13 is a 70' basepath, U15 is 80'.

TAKEDOWN

1. Return the bases to storage, unless another game is scheduled following the current one, in which case you may leave them in their anchors.
2. Lock up the L screens and anything else that won't fit into the sea cans.
3. At fields with shale (dirt) infields, use the dragger on the infield to fill divets and footprints and remove bumps.  You may use the riding mower to pull the dragger at Hillcrest Park.  Do not mow the grass.
4. Rake the 1st and 3rd base paths.  When doing this, rake from the edge of the basepath to the middle, which keeps the shale from spreading out on the grass.   This does not need to be done at Trafalgar or Chaldecott South.
5. Rake home plate area and the pitcher's mound
6. Replace the tarps.  Put two tires over the pitcher's plate and home plate, cover with the tarps, and add the weights to the edges of the tarps.  Fold the tarps so they are not covering any grass as this will kill the grass in hot weather.  This does not need to be done if there's another game following yours.
7. Clean the dugouts.  Put garbage into cans.  If the cans are full, dump them into the City's container by the curb.  Sweep the dugouts with brooms.

PRACTICES

• When using the area around home plate at Hillcrest (North or South), place the orange batter box carpet in the container and put it over the home plate area.   This will help keep the batters boxes in good shape and will reduce the amount of field maintenance.

OTHER

Garbage is usually picked up but if the garbage cans are full of garbage please take a minute to empty the refuse and put in a new garbage bag. It only takes a minute and leave Chaldecott, Trafalgar and Hillcrest in great shape. Bags are located in both metal storage bins.

Only adults are allowed to operate any kind of machinery at any of our Parks. This includes lawn mowers push or ride, edgers, etc.

If there is a weather problem and the field needs some work prior to game time please help out the home team in order to get the field in game shape.

VCB has spent many thousands of dollars improving our playing fields and bringing our equipment up to date. Improving the fields is the simple part but maintaining the fields during our busy schedule is truly a problem.  Please make sure you do your very best in keeping our fields in great shape for your game and the teams that follow.

In case of inclement weather:

• If the weather is quite bad, the game can be postponed or cancelled by mutual agreement of the coaches ahead of time and before anyone shows up to the field.  If the visiting team is not local, this should be done at least 3 hours before the game.  For local teams, you can wait a bit longer.  If you do this, make sure there's an email trail confirming the coach or manager of the visiting team has seen the postponement message and acknowledged it.  Don't assume that sending a postponement email is enough.  If you don't receive an acknowledgement within a few minutes, follow up with a phone call.  But usually it's obvious when there's bad weather and they'll be watching for a message confirming postponement.
• if the weather is marginal and you decide to try to play the game, then both teams and the umpires should be ready to start the game at the scheduled time.  Any time prior to the plate meeting, the home team may decide to call off the game due to weather, light, or field conditions.  If the umpires show up to the field, they will be paid for the game.
• after the home team manager turns over his/her lineup card to the umpires at the pre-game plate meeting, the decision to suspend the game is entirely in the hands of the umpires.  Neither team has any say in the matter, but usually the umpires will confer with both teams before making a decision to suspend a game.  However, a decision to suspend or call a game ultimately rests with the umpires and neither team may argue as this is a judgement call.

If you need to reschedule a game hosted on a VCB field:

1. Find a suitable time on a diamond appropriate for your division.  All the events (games & practices) for every Vancouver field can be viewed on our fields page, above.  If you can't find a suitable time, send an email to the Fields Manager (fields@vcbmountiesbaseball.com) and we'll figure something out.  If necessary, we can bump a practice or reschedule local games to free up a block for a double-header.  Obviously the more lead time, the better for arranging this.
2. After you have found a couple of options, reach out to your opponent with your suggested reschedule time(s).  They should accept unless they have a really good reason why your suggested date won't work.
3. After the reschedule date has been agreed upon:

• let the Umpire-in-Chief know about the rescheduled date, time, and location so umpires will be assigned.
• For travel and 13U A teams:
  • update the game in your TeamSnap team.  Be sure to use a League field for the location, not a team-specific field location.
  • Inform the BC Minor Division Director know about the updated date/time/location so the game can be reschedule on the BC Minor website.
• For VCB 15U A and 18U AA teams, let the webmaster or your division coordinator know about the new date/time/location and we'll update the schedule on the website and in your TeamSnap team.