Lily Engel
By Lily Engel, The Whetstone
As a softball pitcher, I am constantly looking at the scoreboard at DuPont Field on Mary Street to see what the score, inning and count is.
But there isn’t one.
Many who have attended one of our softball games has complained about the field not having a scoreboard.
To counteract these complaints, someone improvised a plastic, do-it-yourself scoreboard where someone literally has to stand next to it and flip the numbers themselves.
I don’t know which is worse: having a crappy board like that, which is usually wrong because the person who is manning it doesn’t know softball well enough, or not having a board at all.
Actually, they’re both pretty bad.
It is a major inconvenience not only to myself but also to other players on the field when the board is not working.
As a junior, I have yet to have a working scoreboard at our home field and probably will not get one until next year sometime – that’s if it comes in on time and works properly.
The eyesore of a non-working scoreboard we have now is falling apart and is an ugly, faded blue color.
Teams in our conference have newer, easy-to-read scoreboards.
It’s embarrassing for us.
Meanwhile, over on the football field, they have brand new turf and a working scoreboard. More money is spent on the football team than other athletic teams. It is not only frustrating but also unfair.
I know a scoreboard is expensive but it is a necessity to most sports, including softball.
Pitchers and catchers need to know the count, and fielders need to know how many outs there are because that controls where the play goes.
Our field is bad enough, besides the ugly broken scoreboard.
For starters, the outfield is uneven, which creates bad hops. Our backstop is falling apart with a dirty, worn Wesley Softball logo padding at the back.
Everything about that field is out of date.
Action needs to be taken.
My team puts so much effort and time into playing the game we love, it would be nice having a quality field to play on.
