2015 Tournament Schedule
EMERSON, Ga. – After a non-stop summer season at Perfect Game Park South and frequent weekend tournaments that fill the calendar through October, the brand new state-of-the-art complex will have been tested like no other field in baseball. With over 1,700 games played at the complex through the middle of September; over 400 games on each field; the Shaw SportsTurf has withheld thousands of innings and still looks untouched. Most impressive of all, however, is the fact that not one of those 1,700-plus games at LakePoint has been rained out.
For young aspiring ballplayers, the complex is something of a baseball player’s paradise, with everything involved being top-of-the-line, from the playing surface to the Musco lights that save energy while provided unparalleled visibility for night games to the Formetco scoreboards that truly give each field a Major League feel.
“Coming out here is a big ‘ooh and ahh’ experience for them,” said Georgia Jackets 15u head coach Fred Hill. “It has a big league taste to it. To play on a surface like this in an environment like this is what you dream of as a kid, so they ate it up.”
“These are some of the best facilities I’ve ever seen,” said Homeplate Maldonado LHP Ethan Gillis. “I love the scoreboards; that’s a huge plus. I enjoyed the mound. It’s just a great experience all-around.”
View from the scout tower at night.
Perfect Game introduced Turf Talk late this summer to add to the Major League experience the youth ballplayers feel at LakePoint. After each game, a player from each team is selected based on performance to talk with experienced sportscaster Rachel Baribeau to answer questions similar to that of a professional post-game interview. Turf Talk took off on social media and will eventually become a staple at the facility.
Big plans for Turf Talk involve essentially turning the short video segmented show into the central source of tournament news during LakePoint tournaments, hosting partners like Nike, which will be able to use the exposure to introduce their latest products, and even college coaches, who will be welcomed on to discuss their respective baseball programs.
With the required wear of either molded cleats or turf shoes, the turf mounds avoid wear and tear and pitchers don’t have to deal with the holes formed over time where the pitcher’s landing foot comes down on traditional clay mounds. The mounds play consistently each and every game and offer pitchers a safer and more comfortable experience.
“I like it a lot better than a regular mound,” East Cobb Braves 16u pitcher Christopher Lucero said. “I don’t know why, I just like the feel of it.”
“It’s amazing to me how the games just keep rolling and rolling with the turf,” said University of Georgia assistant baseball coach Fred Corral. “I’m impressed with the mounds. You would think they would be a little bit more slippery with the pitchers not being able to wear spikes, but everything seems to hold up. It’s top of the line.”
The field dimensions very closely match up to the dimensions of professional fields, while allowing players to be rewarded for powerful swings and good contact, even with wood bats, adding excitement to those playing as well as the spectators.
“I was expecting something wonderful, and I got better than I expected,” Troy University assistant baseball coach Mark Smartt said.
“It’s state-of-the-art for high school baseball right now,” said Pensacola State College assistant baseball coach Chris Santiago. “Words can’t describe how lucky these kids are to be playing on something like this.”
The new complex was also a haven to scouts and college recruiting coordinators, as the quad was complete with a 1.075 sq. ft. scouting tower, which sits at the center and offers recruiters a 360-degree view of all fields from a bird’s-eye view. The tower attracts the eyes of all who roam the Perfect Game Park South facility as it stands tall above everything surrounding it. Rooftops extend from the scout tower to the net behind home plate, offering fans shelter from the powerful Georgia summer sunshine.
“The covered area is great for the scouts and the fans,” Mercer University associate head coach and recruiting coordinator Brent Shade added. “It’s a great place to host a Perfect Game event where you can see four games going on at one time and you don’t have to move. It’s very fan-friendly.”
“I’m not sure that there’s a better place for amateur baseball players to come and play,” said Georgia Tech assistant coach Bryan Prince. “They way it’s set up, with the scout tower in the middle making it easy to see all the fields, is great. It’s one of the best that I’ve seen and I think it’s an amazing place for kids to come play.”
Located conveniently a quarter of a mile off of the Interstate in Emerson, Ga., the facility is easy to get to and north enough of Atlanta that you don’t have to deal with the perils of rush hour traffic. Nestled between the scenic hilly terrain of north Georgia, fans can catch picture-worthy sunsets on a regular basis while enjoying some baseball.
“These are the most beautiful diamonds I’ve ever been on, I think,” said Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox at the Perfect Game Park South campus dedication. “The background, with the trees and mountains, is so beautiful and I’m so glad to be a partner.”
View from the scout tower during the day.
“It’s just a great environment and a beautiful park,” East Cobb Yankees 18u head coach James Beavers said. “We’re looking forward to coming back. It’s clean and it’s just a really great baseball environment.”
Perfect Game Park South guests are greeted by Perfect Game gate girls before walking the paved L-shaped path to the center of the quad.
The walk from the gate to the fields is something like a walk in a theme park, lined with Kia show cars, vendors such as Louisville Slugger, Rawlings, EvoShield, Perfect Game (where you can purchase Nike-produced Perfect Game apparel), and LakePoint, before it opens up and picnic tables litter the sides, easy to spot with red Coca-Cola umbrellas. Before you even reach the fields you get a full sense of being in a first-class facility.
“On the ride in I was talking to my dad about how incredible it was, so I look forward to playing here more in the future,” said East Cobb Astros 18 left-handed pitcher Max Wotell, who made his LakePoint debut a memorable one with an 18-strikeout performance.
“When you walk in here it has a ‘wow’ factor to it, and I know it’s just scratching the surface,” Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall said. “When this thing gets all built up it’ll certainly be tremendous for baseball in Georgia, but also for baseball throughout the country.”
Once guests have reached the quad, they can purchase Proof of Pudding concessions located in the first floor of the scout tower, or choose from a variety of concession booths located around the quad, including Dippin’ Dots ice cream and Chick-fil-A, to name a few. Then spectators can find a comfortable spot in one of the 130 stadium-style seats each field has, complete with shading for sun, rain, and foul ball protection.
“What an impressive facility it is for young ballplayers to play on, but it’s as impressive a facility for parents, coaches, and scouts to watch games played,” said Gateway Community College pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Tim Hubirson.
Players will arrive at the facility well before game time to take in a baseball game from the fan’s viewpoint before taking hacks in one of the eight top-notch batting cages located down the left field and right field lines; two cages for each field.
“Our teams have played at a lot of places, but there’s nothing like this,” Georgia Jackets head coach Paul Meade said. “Even for a guy that’s been around baseball for a while, it’s a special place. You can already sense it and feel it. You can tell people really gave this place some forethought, even down to the hardware that was used on the cages and stuff.”
With the easy maintenance of the turf, the facility often saw 28 baseball games per day during the busy summer tournaments. That translates to 56 different teams that would pass through the gates and take the fields each day and every day for two months straight from the beginning of June through July.
Even the small details have been addressed with a touch of class.
“It’s a great opportunity for these young guys, not only for exposure, but to play in a first-class facility,” said Florida State University assistant coach Mike Bell. “It’s state-of-the-art, not only with the turf and not having to worry about the rain, but even at night with the lighting and everything. I don’t want to say a cliché, but they hit a homerun.”
The facility has had its fair share of unique visitors over the course of the inaugural year, including international teams from Canada and Puerto Rico, former Major League players like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Mike Cameron, as well as Perfect Game’s new partners from Nike, which PG is ecstatic about.
It seems everyone who has walked through the Perfect Game Park South gates has been in awe of the majestic baseball haven, even college coaches who have inquired about the Shaw SportsTurf and Musco lighting. In fact, the newly established Division I Junior College Georgia Highlands baseball program will call Perfect Game Park South home this upcoming spring.
It’s hard to imagine Perfect Game Park South is only a small sample size of what Perfect Game will eventually have at LakePoint. By next spring, four additional fields should be ready for action and, eventually, eight more fields will be built on the north campus, giving Perfect Game 16 state-of-the-art baseball fields.
“It reminds me of Wide World of Sports at Disney, but ten times nicer,” said National Showcase participant Cobie Vance. “The environment is just great.”
Vance’s words are exactly what LakePoint envisions: a family vacation destination for all athletes and the center of amateur sports. Perfect Game is already playing its role in the process by working to help LakePoint become the hub for competitive amateur baseball.