High School Baseball Fields in Iowa I've Been To

So a while back I made a post about high school football fields in Iowa I've been to. That is linked HERE. 60 of them for football/track.

As for baseball, to the best of my recollection, I've been to 66, if I include 3 fields to watch high school games that normally have other tenants (Principal Park, Bucks Field in Waterloo, and Grandview College)

First let's start with the fields I recall playing on. Most of these school are consolidated, but I presume the fields are still there. Sanborn, Hartley, Primghar, Milford, Paullina, Sutherland, Alta, Aurelia from the Sioux Valley Conference. Not as many games played back then as now, so the non-con list isn't that big. Cherokee, Western Christian-Hull, Little Rock, George, Melvin, Storm Lake St. Mary, Everly, Ocheyedan, Arnolds Park, Sibley.

Next let's go with HS fields I have umpired on. Roland-Story, South Hamilton, Blairsburg NE Hamilton, South Hardin, Ames, Boone, Ogden, North Polk, Glidden-Ralston, Collins-CMB, Zearing Colo-Nesco, Dayton-SE Webster Grand, Gilbert, Des Moines Christian.

Then there are a bunch where I've watched Jerald play, either in school ball, or spring ball. Nevada, State Center-West Marshall, Marshalltown, Gilman-East Marshall, Waterloo Bucks, Ft Dodge Dodger Stadium, Ft Dodge St Edmond-Harlan Rogers Park, Jefferson Greene County, Prairie City-PCM, Carroll Stadium, Rippey East Greene, DM Roosevelt, DM East, DM Hoover, Johnston, Saydel, Ankeny, SE Polk, Newton, Waukee, Woodward-Granger, Bondurant-Farrar, Principal Park, Belmond-Klemme, Grandview, Van Meter, Mason City Newman, Martinsdale-St Marys.

Then I recall a few more, where I just went to watch for one reason or another, that didn't involve me, or Jerald. Floyd Valley in Alton, Granville Spalding, Sioux Center, Manson NW Webster, Slater-Ballard, Lawton-Bronson.

I don't know if I have a favorite. Probably Carroll Stadium, it just has a cool old time vibe to it. Not to be a homer, but I really like Norsemen Field. Coach Hill takes such nice care of it, and the grass baselines between home and 1st, and home and 3rd are a bit of an oddity.

My HS home field had its own oddity. Light poles in the field of play in right and center fields. They were there for football and in the way for baseball. I seem to recall you couldn't catch the ball off the poles, but you could the electric lines.

Martensdale-St Marys has I think an old brick bus barn as a home run "fence". As close to Camden Yards as you can get in Iowa I guess.

Back to my high school days, Ocheyedan didn't have a home run fence. Just a big open field. Run Forest, run! Lawton-Bronson has stadium seats, which is really cool for a small high school. SE Polk has the only all turf field of the bunch. Clean bounces, and clean jerseys.

Ames has a new field now, that I haven't been to. Their old field is kinda cool too. Lotta history there, including Satchel Paige pitching there. I'll leave with a photo of Jerald at bat there, back in 2015. I love the 4 legged light standards (and my cell tower in the background).

Football schedule is set

I'm a big fan of high school football. And how the schedules are set in Iowa certainly is fun. Football doesn't have conferences, so every two years the Iowa High School Athletic Association resets the districts that schools are assigned to. It changes each two years to reflect changes in student population as well as mergers and closings.

So schedules are set on two year schedules, to give a school a home and away for each opponent they are assigned.

So each fall, each high school conducts a census of their student population in grades 9-11. The top 48 (I think) are assigned to Class 4A, the next 56 to 3A, the next 56 to 2A, and so on. The smallest 11 man classification is A, so they get the remainder of schools, and will be some odd number. 8 man football is one class, and all 8 man schools are in it.

So to set the 8 team districts (for 7 games), the IHSAA looks at the schools in the class, and I presume start in the corners to get 8 teams, and work their way in. After those are set, schools can put in a request for opponents for the two non-district games, assuming a rival didn't get assigned in district play.

So in the past month of so, for the Fall 2016 and 2017 seasons, the district assignments were made. Roland-Story got a pretty favorable district assignment I think. Travel wise, nobody is over an hour away. There are a couple right at it-namely Parkersburg (Aplington-Parkersburg), Dike (Dike-New Hartford), and LeGrand (East Marshall). But the other opponents are closer, CMB (depends whether we play at Maxwell or Baxter), Saydel, West Marshall, and South Hardin.

Then, the opponents are no killers row. Now I expect D-NH and A-P to fight for the top, and maybe CMB. They are always solid. But East Marshall, West Marshall, Saydel, and South Hardin have struggled as of late, but so have the Norse as far as that goes.

Ok, so this past week, the non-district opponents were announced. I figured South Hamilton would be one of them, as I would expect both Roland-Story and South Hamilton both requested each other. Big rivals, close trips, and R-S and SH have played every year but two in the history of Roland-Story. And indeed they were assigned to each other, and will play in week 2 of the season.

I was thinking of various schools who the 2nd team would be. Maybe some newer "rivals" such as Iowa Falls or Hampton. Or maybe something out of the box, like a Class 2A school that we occasionally run into in other sports, like Eagle Grove, Clarion, or Prairie Valley. The other choice was a long time rival, but one that has passed us by in size and success. And oddly enough, that is who we got, namely the Gilbert Tigers. Not a big fan of the matchup. Much like college football, I'd prefer to open with a slappy, somebody with an easy win, that we can try out various people and schemes. Gilbert will be a handful. The bean counters at both schools will like it. It will be sure to have a huge crowd with lots of concession spending. And it will get the kids motivated much more than a game versus Belmond-Klemme.

But I have no say, so here is the Norsemen schedule for 2016.

Roland-Story 2016 Schedule: 08/26 Gilbert 09/02 @South Hamilton, Jewell 09/09 CMB, Baxter 09/16 @East Marshall, LeGrand 09/23 Saydel 09/30 Aplington-Parkersburg 10/07 @Dike-New Hartford 10/14 South Hardin 10/21 @West Marshall, State Center

And here is the map of the layouts of Class 2A districts