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For most part, Ike’s winds spare athletic facilities
  
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By ROBERT AVERY
Considering what high school and youth league officials are probably going through in places like Galveston and Bridge City, anyone connected with athletic facilities here in town may be feeling a bit fortunate.
Hurricane Ike wasn’t kind to the city’s athletic locations, but the storm certainly could have delivered a much more lethal blow based on the direct hit the area took early Saturday morning.
Youth baseball and softball facilities as close as El Franco Lee Park, located next to Dobie High School, suffered a much harder blow than any of the city’s facilities.
Huge 20-foot backstops were badly bent and one set of bleachers was mangled.
There was nothing like that kind of damage here in town. Memorial High School’s Maverick Field may have suffered the most noticeable damage. Its center field wall was completely blown down. With it went a pair of flag poles that are now lying horizontal along the ground.
Ironically, it seems every time the Mavs play a game at their baseball field, the wind is always blowing in. But Hurricane Ike went the other way with the wall, blowing it outward. The wall had been supported from behind by wooden beams, but that didn’t matter to Ike and its 100-mph winds.
That wasn’t the only damage at Maverick Field. Its announcer’s and scorer’s booth behind home plate was toppled over. Unlike the center field wall, the booth was blown outward. But the Mavs have to be breathing a sigh of relief in that the field’s 1-year-old scoreboard wasn’t damaged. There was some minor damage to some decoration above the scoreboard, but nothing to the actual structure.
Next door at Memorial’s softball field complex, the fence that forms the batting cage is smashed in.
Scoreboards in general across town weren’t touched by Ike’s winds. Scoreboards at all the Little League fields, Auxiliary Stadium and Newcomb Field appeared to weather the storm just fine.
Not all scoreboards in the area can say that. Over in Pearland, at the site where Pearland used to play its varsity football games, Ike’s winds bent a large scoreboard all the way to the ground, bending three metal poles like they were cardboard.
At Patterson Field, home to Deepwater Little League, the chain-link fence in right center field was blown down. It appeared as if something slammed into it. But just a few feet to the right, Deepwater’s scoreboard escaped untouched.
Of the three Little League fields in town, it appeared Pan American Little League suffered the least damage. Some shingles were ripped from the concession stand and its Green Monster wall in center field is slightly damaged.
At International Little League, Gary Field suffered damage to both its home and visitor’s dugouts when Ike ripped off the roof of the visitor’s dugout and deposited it onto Harris Field, while the home dugout saw its aluminum covering ripped off.
Gardner Field, home to the city’s Pony Baseball program, lost its foul-ball netting and its board listing the major accomplishments of past teams saw those signs listing the accomplishments blown away.
“We have 21 ballfields and 42 dugouts and I’d say it destroyed 30 of them,” said city Parks and Recreation’s Rex Giberson. “It was roofs, not a whole lot of damage.”
At PISD’s central athletic facility, it came through the storm with flying colors. Auxiliary Stadium’s old pressbox appeared to suffer a great deal of wind damage and there was netting damage, but little else. Auxiliary Stadium’s scoreboard, which was destroyed by Hurricane Rita, was unscathed this time.
At Kipper Mease Park, home to several softball fields, a large tree toppled over into center field on the diamond facing Red Bluff Road.
As for the oddity factor, back at Memorial High School, there’s a row of young trees lining a fence as one enters the track ring. Starting with the third tree, Ike blew down every odd-numbered tree. The third, fifth, seventh and ninth trees were toppled over, leaving the even-numbered trees standing. But upon closer inspection, the odd-numbered trees had more branches to them, giving the wind something to grab onto.
Hurricane Ike wasn’t kind to the city’s athletic locations, but the storm certainly could have delivered a much more lethal blow based on the direct hit the area took early Saturday morning.
Youth baseball and softball facilities as close as El Franco Lee Park, located next to Dobie High School, suffered a much harder blow than any of the city’s facilities.
Huge 20-foot backstops were badly bent and one set of bleachers was mangled.
There was nothing like that kind of damage here in town. Memorial High School’s Maverick Field may have suffered the most noticeable damage. Its center field wall was completely blown down. With it went a pair of flag poles that are now lying horizontal along the ground.
Ironically, it seems every time the Mavs play a game at their baseball field, the wind is always blowing in. But Hurricane Ike went the other way with the wall, blowing it outward. The wall had been supported from behind by wooden beams, but that didn’t matter to Ike and its 100-mph winds.
That wasn’t the only damage at Maverick Field. Its announcer’s and scorer’s booth behind home plate was toppled over. Unlike the center field wall, the booth was blown outward. But the Mavs have to be breathing a sigh of relief in that the field’s 1-year-old scoreboard wasn’t damaged. There was some minor damage to some decoration above the scoreboard, but nothing to the actual structure.
Next door at Memorial’s softball field complex, the fence that forms the batting cage is smashed in.
Scoreboards in general across town weren’t touched by Ike’s winds. Scoreboards at all the Little League fields, Auxiliary Stadium and Newcomb Field appeared to weather the storm just fine.
Not all scoreboards in the area can say that. Over in Pearland, at the site where Pearland used to play its varsity football games, Ike’s winds bent a large scoreboard all the way to the ground, bending three metal poles like they were cardboard.
At Patterson Field, home to Deepwater Little League, the chain-link fence in right center field was blown down. It appeared as if something slammed into it. But just a few feet to the right, Deepwater’s scoreboard escaped untouched.
Of the three Little League fields in town, it appeared Pan American Little League suffered the least damage. Some shingles were ripped from the concession stand and its Green Monster wall in center field is slightly damaged.
At International Little League, Gary Field suffered damage to both its home and visitor’s dugouts when Ike ripped off the roof of the visitor’s dugout and deposited it onto Harris Field, while the home dugout saw its aluminum covering ripped off.
Gardner Field, home to the city’s Pony Baseball program, lost its foul-ball netting and its board listing the major accomplishments of past teams saw those signs listing the accomplishments blown away.
“We have 21 ballfields and 42 dugouts and I’d say it destroyed 30 of them,” said city Parks and Recreation’s Rex Giberson. “It was roofs, not a whole lot of damage.”
At PISD’s central athletic facility, it came through the storm with flying colors. Auxiliary Stadium’s old pressbox appeared to suffer a great deal of wind damage and there was netting damage, but little else. Auxiliary Stadium’s scoreboard, which was destroyed by Hurricane Rita, was unscathed this time.
At Kipper Mease Park, home to several softball fields, a large tree toppled over into center field on the diamond facing Red Bluff Road.
As for the oddity factor, back at Memorial High School, there’s a row of young trees lining a fence as one enters the track ring. Starting with the third tree, Ike blew down every odd-numbered tree. The third, fifth, seventh and ninth trees were toppled over, leaving the even-numbered trees standing. But upon closer inspection, the odd-numbered trees had more branches to them, giving the wind something to grab onto.
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