Improved dugouts, new infield draw strong reviews at Cadwell Park

Aug. 14—MITCHELL — Zack Puetz was already fond of Cadwell Park. It's where his Dell Rapids PBR baseball team won the Class B state championship two years ago, after all. But after $400,000 in renovations to the infield and the dugouts at Mitchell's baseball showpiece, he said it's simply beautiful now. "In 2024, (the infield) was a little beat up," Puetz said. "But I saw the pictures and I heard the dugouts were getting some work and we showed up and then I thought we should have done it 20 years ago. This place is great. You can't beat the weather, it's a great tournament and you've got baseball every night for a week and a half. It's a great way to cap the summer." As expected, the improvements are drawing strong reviews from the players and managers involved with the 12-day state tournament, which is back in Mitchell for 2026 after a year in Brandon. The city of Mitchell renovated the infield last fall, digging down 12 inches and putting in new drainage tile, installing 9 inches of sand, adding peat moss to help hold the moisture and then putting down new sod. DuraEdge, a company out of Pennsylvania that sells infield products to most of Major League Baseball, was contracted to provide the infield dirt, which is a higher mix of clay than the previous agrilime material. The new infield requires watering three times per day but it's a better surface in terms of bounces and infield footing. "I've been playing here since I was 13 years old and it's the best I've ever seen it," Canova shortstop Justin Miller said after the Gang's first-round game. "The dirt they have out there is amazing, the grass is amazing. Everything is top notch." Mitchell Baseball Association Tournament Director Jim "Jocko" Johnston is pleased with how the field has played so far during the tournament. He was most effusive about his praise for the city of Mitchell crew and its seasonal staff — many of them high school and college age — that have embraced the work involved with maintaining a new field that has specific demands. "It's a field that will only be as good as the people that take care of it," Johnston said. "I can't say enough about how well they've done with it. And they've really worked hard to solve some of the questions that have come up with it and working to get answers." It is the first time since the ballpark opened in 1972 that the infield has been renovated and it's long been a priority for Johnston for many years, including consulting with the Minnesota Twins grounds crew, which uses the same DuraEdge material at Target Field. However, there's few baseball tournaments anywhere that are as demanding on a single, natural grass baseball field as the South Dakota state amateur tournament, which has 35 games in 12 days at Cadwell. "When I explained to them that we play that many games in 12 days, they kind of rolled their eyes at me, like 'Nobody's supposed to do that,'" Johnston said. "There's no question the field is going to get beat up during the tournament and that's why it's so important that it's in the best possible condition when the tournament starts. ... I think the teams that play out here during the summer have an understanding that we don't play on it when we shouldn't play on it, so we can keep it in good condition." Even as the project is something that Johnston was passionate about, he said the two-week period where construction crews were digging the infield tested his faith in how the work would turn out. "All of the sudden, it was basically just the (pitching) mound out there," Johnston recalled. "And I was thinking, I don't know if they're going to put Humpty Dumpty back together again." Johnston said one of the key parts of the work is still to come, with how the field is put to bed this fall before winter, with the cutting, leveling and resetting of the playing surface to prepare it for 2027. "We've got to do a good job in the fall because you can stick a whole lot of money into a field and if you don't maintain it properly, then it's kind of down the hole," he said. "I'm pretty confident the guys will be able to do that this fall and hopefully we start out the season next year to be in as good of shape as it is right now." Even then, he said he feels like the best is yet to come with the new infield, as it grows in over the next few years. "We were told that with a sand-based infield, over a few years, the infield grass itself will be better than what we had before," he said. "We came out here in the spring and took a look at the sod and we were really glad it took the way it did. We got really good sod for this and it really greened up nicely." For as good as the infield is, the dugouts are getting the top reviews from the players and teams involved. "I love the dugouts. I'd take that over anything," Hartford/Humboldt Gamecocks manager Chad Morrison said. "There's a ton of room and they did a great job." Johnston said they were trying to make three things happen with the new dugouts: allow players to be able to sit at the front of the dugout and see under the rail while also making sure that front rail of the dugout was low enough for players to stand against it. The third element — the view of the fans behind the dugout — was just as important. "We wanted to make sure the rail wasn't too high to take away the view of the (fans) that like to lean up against the dugout because they're very good to our concession stand and we want to take care of them," Johnston said. "The dugouts are nice because there's room for the players to be up on the fence, rather than having to be down below," Tabor manager Chris Sutera said. "I think that keeps morale for everyone up." The dugouts are now 9 feet closer to the playing field and some minor work is still planned to finish them, such as permanent bat and helmet racks, rubber flooring and new wood benches. The infield and dugout improvements cost $402,000. Added with the press box and shade structure, which were finished in 2024 and cost nearly $600,000, plus the private and civic organizations donations that funded the Mitchell Exchange Club grill shelter and the Bernard "Red" Cadwell sculpture at the stadium's front gate, there's been more than $1 million in improvements at the Cadwell Park since 2020. The majority of those improvements have been funded by the city of Mitchell and the Mitchell Baseball Association. Cadwell Park has hosted 11 of the past 13 state tournaments since 2013 and has already been awarded the 2027 event. The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association is considering proposals for hosts in 2028. "Mitchell, it's always phenomenal when we get to come up here," Sutera said. "The field looks tremendous. Jocko always has things in prime shape. We look forward to coming here every year. We have nice fields in the South Central League but when you get up here, it's special. It's like playing on a professional field, in my opinion."