Mike Bisson, the assistant executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association, is looking for another site for the Class A North softball championship game.
A new venue must be found, because the Cony High School Field in Augusta sustained damage late last fall and probably won’t be ready in time for the game.
Vandals drove a car on the field, leaving it with tire tracks and spots where there is only dirt and no grass, according to Cony High athletic director Paul Vachon.
Cony High has been playing its regular-season games on the field.
“I think it’s still a great field but it’s just not worthy of a championship game at this time. We don’t want to have anyone complaining about the field conditions,” Vachon said.
The Class A North championship game will be held on June 12.
“The city (of Augusta) has done a wonderful job. They are working as hard as they can on it. We still want to hold it here,” Vachon said. “But there’s only so much you can do in a short amount of time. They’re going to do the best they can but I told (Bisson) that he ought to look for an alternate site.”
The regional title game has been held at Cony for at least nine years and the Class A state final also is held there every other year. The site is rotated between Cony and Saint Joseph’s College in Standish.
The state game is scheduled for June 16 at St. Joseph’s.
Vachon explained that they didn’t have time to fix the field last fall because it snowed soon afterward.
Bisson said when he begins searching for a new site, it will have to meet the requirements established by the MPA.
“It will have to have a good playing surface and it will need to have seating able to accommodate a championship game crowd,” Bisson said. “We need a limited access point so we can charge admission and you have to have someone willing to host you.”
He also the MPA also wants to try to “avoid playing at the home field of somebody who could possibly be in the game.”
The Classes B, C and D North championship games and two state championship games are held at Brewer’s Coffin Field every year, but only two of the 12 Class A schools are located within 56 miles of Brewer: Bangor High (2 miles) and Hampden Academy (8).
Seven of the schools are at least 77 miles from Brewer, so Bisson ruled out Coffin Field as a possible venue.
With the exception of Bangor (76 miles), Hampden Academy (73) and Oxford Hills of South Paris (48), the other eight Class A North schools are within 40 miles of Augusta.
Brewer isn’t even in Class A any more, having dropped to Class B for the first time this season.
Bisson said he and the MPA softball committee hope to have a site formalized next week.
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