State of the Swampscott Fields: At Rest and In Play

Monday was the first day fields were opened for Big Blue spring sports practices.

Before Monday, the surfaces were soft with moisture and vulnerable to damage, said DPW Director Gino Cresta.

These surfaces will remain in play but others will remain at rest awaiting grass and loam and recovery.

High School Athletic Director Jon Flanagan said Upper Jackson is one of them. It needs rest and care to recover in time for fall soccer.

This spring the only action the field will see is field events for Big Blue track, including the shot put, javelin and discus. 

The DPW director said Upper Jackson took a beating last year, getting used twice as much as usual. Bare spots plague the goal mouths and midfield, he said.

Upper Jackson was forced into overtime because Columbia Pictures was using the practice football field and half the soccer field for its Grown Ups 2 soundstage at Phillips Park. Portable lights were installed at Upper J for soccer action that would have otherwise taken place at Phillips.

In addition to rest, Upper Jackson will get reseeded, aerated and fertilized.

The middle school ballfields are in pretty good shape, the DPW director said.

The varsity baseball and softball teams play on the fields.

The junior varsity and freshmen baseball teams typically play on the diamond in the middle of Phillips Park.

But those teams will be playing on the Rotary Field near the Lynn and Nahant border this spring, the director said.

The Phillips baseball field will be closed while lacrosse fields are installed. Three of them: two in left field and one running from center to right field, he said.

Meanwhile, the town will contact Columbia Pictures to get them back for improvements to the former site of the soundstage for Grown Ups 2.

The field looks much more level than it was prior to the soundstage's arrival and departure but it is grassless and wavy, likely from heavy rain last fall. The hydroseeding Columbia funded last year did not take. And the heavy rains contributed to the grass' failure to take root, the DPW director said.

Part of the Charlotte Road field — in a far back corner of Phillips Park — remains at rest. And part of it is being used by youth sports this spring, the DPW director said.

The two Phillips diamonds near Humphrey Street will continue to field Little League action, he said.

Blocksidge Field, used in the spring for boys and girls lacrosse, is in pretty good shape, the DPW director said.