Chestnut Hill Academy (CHA) and now Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s baseball field is rich in history, but hasn’t seem to grow with the times, until now.

As one of Philadelphia’s oldest baseball fields, Pearson Field hosts not only Blue Devils baseball but also soccer games and football practice.

One major issue with the SCH baseball field has always been its inability to drain water. Last season, SCH had many practies and games moved away from Pearson Field because of the puddles on the field.

Prior to this season, efforts were made to help with the fields’ drainage system. When asked how he thinks the field is doing draining rain water now, Senior Captain Paul Cifra said, “It’s doing great. The conditioner that they added and the extra layers of dirt have helped absorb a lot of the water, and we no longer have to wait three days for the field to drain, even with sunny weather and 70 degrees.”

Frankie Decembrino ’26, who is one of two junior captains, echoed a similar message saying, “It’s really improved from what it was. I mean, now there’s only, like, one to two puddles and before the whole field was underwater. I mean, the conditioner, it’s really made a difference so far.”

Another issue that needed to be fix was the playing conditions. Before this year’s spring break, SCH’s baseball field had what are called “lips” between the dirt and the grass. These “lips” will cause the ball to take abnormal hops and change the direction of the ball. 

While the baseball team was in Florida over break, efforts were made to eliminate the “lips” and expand the dirt on the infield. 

Cifra commented on the field and the school’s commitment to the baseball program, saying, “It’s a great improvement. The school seems like they are focusing on the baseball program, which is very good. And, you know, we’re appreciating the work, and it’s showing during practices and games that the fields actually made a huge difference.”

Decembrino, who is a second baseman for the Devils, commented on the differences he was noticing when fielding ground balls, “Yeah, I think the ground balls that are hit to me now versus before the field was done. You know, they’re less sporadic. I don’t have to question if it’s going to hit me, if it’s going to take a bad hop most times.”

When asked how he thinks the improvement to the field is making the team better, he said, “I think we’re able to get on it more … with the new conditioner they put in … But now you know, the hops are cleaner, and there’s just more opportunities to get better because we’re on it more.”

Cifra echoed a similar message when talking about how a good field can help the team in high-pressure Inter-Ac games, “[The field] is very important, you know, you can always practice getting the right hops. And this repetition is something that you can trust in high situation games. So you trust your training, and with the good field, you will always get the right hop.”