Waunakee High School | Waunakee, WI
Aiming to extend the life of its aging baseball field, a midwest high school realized safety and sightlines were becoming a bigger and bigger issue. Facility managers knew to keep the ballfield in good working condition a netting upgrade would be needed.
An aged chain-link system with tall wooden poles and covering over the dugout had been in use on a high school ballfield in Wisconsin for more years than the staff could recall. Sagging and holes in the existing netting allowed foul balls to leave the field of play, potentially posing risks to adjacent fields and spectators. The existing wooden poles not only had an unsightly visual appearance but also obstructed the spectators’ view of the ballfield.
While the old structure was still functional enough to support netting, the high school faced a crucial decision regarding their ballfield. Should they simply replace the netting on an unsightly structure or take this unique opportunity to fully replace and upgrade the facility with a top-of-the-line netting system? The support posts were leaning, and the chain link was in rough shape. Both posts and fence were showing their age.
The primary goal of the high school was to enhance safety for all field visitors, with a secondary aim to improve the overall baseball experience for players and spectators. Given the tight budget and condensed timeframe with a firm project completion deadline, the Beacon team lead the project from start to finish to meet these specific client parameters to achieve the upgrades needed at the ballpark.
With a comprehensive and collaborative effort between Beacon and installers, the resulting netting solution was ideal for this high school ballfield. Faced with just a three-month window to complete the project, Beacon worked closely with the high school’s facility management team to fully understand all issues they were facing and future needs of the baseball team. Beacon’s process included planning, design, manufacturing and installation of a state-of-the-art backstop netting system.
Waunakee High School now proudly features a fully-modernized backstop netting system, complete with inline permanent netting that extends from dugout to dugout. The design also allows for potential future netting extensions over the top of the dugouts, which can be easily added with the new hardware design. Most importantly, safety remained a top priority, benefiting all players and fans.
The level of service from Beacon is unrivaled. Their team listened to our needs and developed a solution. Beacon didn’t take any shortcuts and were able to use high-quality products that stayed within our budget. They pay meticulous attention to every detail. Beacon genuinely cares about the end result.
