To The City of Newburyport

To Whom It May Concern,

Baseball as we know it in the City of Newburyport is in jeopardy and we need your help to remedy the lack of regulation diamonds within the city. Less than two years ago, we celebrated our first State Championship in Baseball at Newburyport High School. After 40 years of coaching baseball at NHS, Coach William Pettingell finally achieved the championship that many former alumni had tried so hard to achieve. Many years of training, instruction, and hard work finally brought the celebration that all of us had worked so hard for. This could only be accomplished by the time and energy of many coaches starting in the Pioneer League, through the Senior League, Babe Ruth, American Legion, Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity Baseball programs.

The fields at the Pioneer League have been refurbished and are among the region's finest youth fields. However, proper development of players at the next level will be impeded severely by the loss of the field at The Bresnahan School. We certainly applaud Newburyport for building the new school to replace the aging facility. However, its new location on the property eliminates a field used by the Pioneer League, Freshman baseball, Junior Varsity baseball, Babe Ruth and American Legion baseball as well as soccer, softball and field hockey.

This leaves the City of Newburyport with just a single regulation baseball field for use for next spring, an altogether unacceptable situation. Having three high school teams practicing and playing on one diamond will make it difficult to put a competitive product on the field as the varsity competes for a league championship and a return to State Tournament play. Additionally, there is an obvious safety risk with the potential for 50-60 players on the field simultaneously.

As the President of the Alumni Association and as Freshman Baseball coach, the NHS Baseball Alumni Association and the Coaching staff have known about the possibility of this happening for at least three years and we have consistently asked what are the plans "if" we lose the field. We have yet to receive a definitive answer from anyone in a position of authority and now face a very bleak future for baseball in Newburyport. Every school in the Cape Ann League has at least two fields at their disposal and most have three. At the moment, we only have Pettingell Park to work with.

The Nock Middle School upper field used to have a full diamond. This could be refurbished as a field but requires a considerable amount of resurfacing and repair work to be done. If this does not happen within the next couple of weeks, that field will not be ready for the spring. There is also land further back that was donated that needs to be cleared where a field could be placed. Either way ... we need one, and preferably two new fields to be host all of the programs that use the fields in Newburyport.

So what are we asking for? A plan to replace the lost field due to the construction of the new Bresnahan School and a second field to be added somewhere in the city for use by all parties. We currently have upwards of 10 different areas in the city designated for soccer use, two for football, five for softball -- and one baseball field for use by more than 15 teams. So are we asking for a lot? The Alumni Association does not think so.

We urgently need your help to rectify this untenable situation.

Respectfully submitted,
The NHSBAA Board of Directors

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