NEW PALESTINE — Ed Marcum relishes his field time.
From manicuring the New Palestine softball diamond’s outfield grass at just the right height to perfecting the petrified-clay surfaced basepaths, Marcum treated the Dragons’ home field with tremendous care over the years.
Now, with New Palestine High School’s newly relocated softball complex nearing completion, Marcum admits, he’ll need to find another meticulous hobby.
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“It’s a spectacular complex,” Marcum remarked. “It’s a state-of-the-art facility for sure. Big dugouts, bullpens, brick, they did a nice job with it.”
The new softball facility won’t need much maintenance once the final touches are applied. The Dragons soon-to-be home field will showcase the spoils of a champion, including field turf installed by Sprinturf.
Sprinturf is the same company that placed the football team’s playing surface and is based out of South Carolina.
Along with the field itself, the Dragons softball program will be treated to brick dugouts, a block backstop area, outfield bleachers in right and left and a viewing mound in center field.
“They still have a little work to do, but it’s shaping up,” Marcum said. “It’s a brand new location. Our (old) field is part of the new building addition.
“We are moved back between the tennis court and the JV diamond in the back (of the athletic campus). They kind of made it a whole new situation with a drive behind the baseball diamond between the tennis area with a big screen for baseball. They’ll have parking back in there, too.”
While plenty of new features will be readily available for Marcum and his players, some elements from the former stadium made the transition, as well, including the Dragons’ scoreboard, field lights and home plate bleachers and press box.
“Obviously, I loved my old field. I spent a lot of hours on it, so it was kind of disappointing from that aspect, but I certainly understand. They wanted to build a new multi-purpose area, and that was going to come through our outfield at the old diamond,” Marcum said. “They had to do something, and they did it first-class.”
Marcum was well aware of the renovation project for more than a year, preparing for the change and the potential of being a full-time road team this season before the coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of all IHSAA spring sports.
Originally, the new complex was targeted to be finalized prior to the high school softball postseason in May, but with games halted in March due to COVID-19, the construction and field detailing wasn’t rushed.
Instead, it’s being perfected with black fencing in the outfield — with Dragons’ red trim — where the program’s championship banners will also be displayed. The dimensions will be 200 feet down the lines and 205 feet to dead center field.
“I think had we had a season, we may have been able to play on it sometime in May or maybe at least for our Senior Night,” Marcum said. “With the situation where everything got cancelled, they slowed down a bit to get it done right.
“I think they made a good decision, moving it where they did to kind of keep the varsity and JV fields next to each other. It’s going to be really nice. It’s going to be a beautiful place to watch a ball game.”
It will be slightly different for the Dragons, who won three straight Class 3A state championships since 2017 and six overall since 2004.
In Marcum’s 17-year tenure after taking over the program in 2004, the Dragons have won 414 games with 62 losses. New Palestine has captured 10 sectional titles and nine regional championships.
The changeover to field turf won’t derail tradition, Marcum joked.
“We’ve been very fortunate the past several years with our home record, so it’s not like we’re looking for a home-field advantage or anything,” Marcum said. “The last four years we’re 67-2 at home, so it’s certainly not for an advantage.”
It will require getting used to, however.
As one of the state’s few high school softball fields with an artificial surface, playing ground balls and one-hop hits into the outfield will be something both the Dragons and their opponents will need to figure out.
“I’m kind of old school when it comes to softball and getting dirty, but they actually did the whole thing as artificial turf,” Marcum said. “I know there are a few fields around the state that are going to that, so they wanted to be ahead of it.”
The Dragons stayed ahead of the curve this past offseason, practicing on New Palestine’s football field in preparation. But, field turf won’t alter what the Dragons do best, which is hit.
The new stadium’s outfield fence increases from 4 feet to 6 feet in height compared to the former ball park, but the center field wall moves back by just 5 feet.
“As a coach, you coach the team that you have. There were years that we had a team that was really fast, and small ball was our game. And, we’ve had years, especially, the last several, where the home run was our game,” Marcum said. “We’ll take what they give us and make the best of it.”
The key will be fielding off the turf and being versatile.
“The outfield will bounce differently. One thing is when you go to the (state) tournament, we haven’t played on any artificial turf, so I think that could be different,” Marcum said.
“The teams coming, there won’t be any metal cleats allowed, so the teams that we play will have to have a different pair of shoes to play us at home on turf. If I’ve got away games, I’ll need to have my team practice on the JV diamond instead of (turf) to get ready for our away games.”
New field or not, the memories are irreplacable for Marcum and his Dragons.
“I’m always going to remember all the players I had the opportunity to coach (on that old diamond). Just starting out, to win the state championships that we did, obviously not on that field, but we had a lot of great times and a lot of great practices, and we won a lot of games,” Marcum said.
Technically, they won their last on the old field, defeating Indian Creek by run-rule, 11-0, in five innings on May 23, 2019 to win the sectional title.
“Some of my favorites were when we got the lights and we turned them on, it was dark everywhere else. It was a really neat sight,” Marcum said. “But, all the great players that came through there, not only great softball players, but now they’re wives and moms. And obviously, my daughters (Michelle Hokl and Alyssa Dillard) getting to play. There are some memories with them with some big moments and big, key hits that they had. I can go through most players and talk about big moments they each had on that diamond.”
Once social distancing measures are eventually lifted and visitors are permitted back on school grounds, Marcum and the Dragons intend to build new memories to go with their modern facility.
“I’m certainly disappointed in how this year went. I don’t think we could have played many games on it, but I’m hopeful in July we can still do some sort of an alumni game and give our alumni an opportunity to come and play on the new diamond,” Marcum said. “We had made our team for this year, so maybe bring that team and bring in the alumni and give everyone a chance to celebrate not only this year’s team but also a new facility, too.”
