FARGO — Jack Williams Baseball Stadium in Fargo got some unwanted watering over the weekend with the Red River putting the field under a foot of water.
Ryan Perreault, Fargo Post 2 baseball club chairman of the board of directors, said the water started coming in on Thursday, April 20, and had completely covered the field by Friday.
On Monday, only the outfield and beyond was covered in water, which Perreault said is a big improvement.
"Saturday, we could see just the top of the pitchers mound and Sunday it was about the whole pitchers mound and it's been really great to see how quickly the water's been moving out of here now," Perreault said.
The field has seen its fair share of floods since it opened in 1966, and Perreault said recent renovations should help with this year's recovery. In the fall of 2022, a $30,000 investment was made to regrade and re-sod the entire infield.
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Perreault said they will still need a cleanup effort once the water is gone, but that the infield investment will help out a lot.
"We're anticipating that it won't be as bad this year just because our turf was in really good shape, both in the infield and the outfield last year. So with good healthy grass last fall, we feel it's going to bounce back pretty quickly this spring," Perreault said.
He said the biggest impact of this flooding is on Shanley High School's varsity baseball team, which would normally be using the field for practices and home games this time of year.
When it comes to Fargo Post 2 American Legion baseball, Perreault said there should be plenty of time between now and when their season starts in the first week of June for all the water to clear out and any necessary repairs to be made.
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