You step out of the bus and feel the hot, humid air hit your face, you can feel the energy and nerves as you make the walk to your opponent’s field. The first thing you notice is the dugout: Is it crammed or spacious? Next you look out at the field: Is the grass green? How straight are the foul lines? How deep is the fence? Can you make it home on a passed ball? All of these are important to Mount Vernon baseball players.

In a recent survey sent out to baseball players at Mount Vernon High School it was found that players prefer playing at Solon, Independence, Marion, Mount Vernon, and Williamsburg out of the 13 teams in the WAMAC Conference. Players were asked to choose their top 5 fields that they prefer to play on based on their own opinions.

Coming in first place was Solon High School with 90% of individuals choosing this field as their top choice. While it was hard for Mount Vernon players to admit Solon was their favorite field to play on, some very common answers came to mind. “The field is perfect,” said freshman Colin Bentley. Players say that the grass is always cut short and the dugouts are very nice. A pretty cool feature about the dugouts is that there is no fence or net so the view is not obstructed at all.

The next winner is Independence; 60% of players chose Independence as the second preferred field for many reasons. To start off, their infield is turf, which is very nice to play on. There are no bad hops, and you can slide or dive an extremely long distance which is both fun and an advantage.

Marion is next up on the leaderboard receiving 20% of votes for players’ third favorite field. A common comment among the team is that the dugouts are very nice and spacious which allow players to freely move around on hot summer days. Players also commented on the banner in the outfield that has a cool semi-transparent design. “Marion’s field was very clean and had very bumps on the playing surface,” said freshman catcher Cole Thurn. “The dugout was big and you can lean on the fence with comfort.”

Taking fourth place is our home field in Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon’s field is unique as it is shared with the local college, Cornell. There is an agreement between Mount Vernon School District and Cornell College regarding the baseball and softball fields. Cornell owns the baseball field and allows the Mount Vernon team to practice and play on their field; whereas Mount Vernon owns the softball field and allows Cornell to practice and play on Mount Vernon’s field. “Mount Vernon’s field to me is the most stereotypical baseball field,” said senior shortstop Julio Galvan. “The dirt is the softest and there is a big outfield so it’s easy to find a gap.”

Out of the all teams in the WAMAC, Williamsburgs’ field finished fifth. Williamsburg has a very nice dirt infield and a fun atmosphere to play in. Their complex is unique as their baseball and softball are next to each other, and when both teams are playing, it makes it fun. “Williamsburg has very spacious dugouts and the infield is very nice,” said sophomore Miles Francois. “When you slide it doesn’t kick up a lot of dust which is nice from a player standpoint.”

The WAMAC is a very competitive conference and has a good set of teams. Mount Vernon will kick off the season facing last year’s state champions at 5pm on Monday May 16th.