Sea Girt Elementary School (Sea Girt, NJ) is located in the middle of a residential neighborhood. For years the school baseball team has had an issue with foul balls being popped over the existing dugout and into the street or onto neighboring properties. The result of this was student athletes running through the streets chasing after runaway balls during games and practices, causing concern from both school officials and parents.
A few years back we designed and installed Sea Girt Elementary’s school playground equipment. Happy with the work we provided them, they decided to come to us with their baseball problem. After doing a site visit, our design professional found that the overall property size that the old backstop sat on was relatively small compared to typical baseball fields. If the site was larger, a standard baseball dome backstop may have solved their problem with no customization necessary.
With one possible solution crossed off our list we decided to consult our custom metal team, Custom Fabrication. With their assistance we were able to offer Sea Girt Elementary a custom backstop with a cantilevered overhang which was designed to catch the foul pops over home plate. The school found this solution to be their best option and proceeded with the order. Since installation, the customized backstop has retained more baseballs to the playing field than ever before; which in turn keeps the children on safe ground on school property.
Custom Fabrication was also able to assist the school with their new dugouts which incorporate the school’s colors. The dugouts are made of a durable metal and will provide shelter for ball players for a long time.
The project was a huge success and we look forward to providing more schools with similar backstops and custom products in the near future. As Custom Fabrication likes to say, “If you can dream it, we can build it.”
For more photos from this project, visit our Flickr page here!