AUGUSTA — The Class A North softball championship game will be played at Winslow High School this season after Cony Family Field in Augusta was deemed earlier this month unsuitable to host a game of that magnitude.
The game, traditionally held at Cony High School, will be played June 12 at 3 p.m.
Cony athletic director Paul Vachon acknowledged he notified the Maine Principals’ Association earlier this month with concerns about field conditions, particularly in the outfield.
“Last fall we had a truck go on the field in the outfield,” Vachon said. “It was late in the season and we weren’t able to work on it. This spring, it was so wet that we were not able to get to it, either, and fix the ruts in the outfield. Being the host of the tournament, I brought in the MPA, showed them what happened. At the time, I could not promise that the field would be in tip-top shape for a championship game.
“We worked on the field a lot. We rolled it and did everything we could. The field is certainly playable, and we played on it this spring. At this point, the field looks great, but the MPA had to have a decision before I could assure them the field would be in perfect shape.”
MPA director Michael Bisson said he looked at several sites around central Maine.
We looked around and tried to find ones that best fit our needs,” he said. “Field surface, spectator seating, control of a gate, all those things. We started to look around and see what else we could do. There were tire marks in the outfield and compacted dirt. We just wondered how it would play in a championship game. You want consistent grass.”
Vachon said the school investigated the incident last fall, but were unable to identify a suspect or suspects.
“A person drove on the field for some reason,” he said. “We never saw who did it. We investigated but could not find the person who did it.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
