From Clay to Grass at Lower Jackson

Landscapers have scooped the youth baseball diamond from and are planting grass to support more soccer.

The is paying for the work and will pay to maintain the field, said Swampscott Recreation Director Danielle Strauss.

The recreation director said town officials along with youth baseball and youth soccer representatives decided on the change.

“The youth baseball was not using it as much as we thought it would be used,” the recreation director said.

The town officials involved in the decision were Danielle Strauss, DPW Director Gino Cresta and Town Administrator Andrew Maylor, she said.

As it is, the town’s fields are not meeting the needs of youth soccer, Strauss said.

The work at Lower Jackson Field will accommodate a larger field, making room for more practices and, perhaps, games, the director said.

This, in turn, will relieve some pressure on the town’s overused soccer fields.

Earlier this week Hatfield Lawncare and Maintenance of Nahant got started on the project.

They removed the diamond’s clay foundation and spread about 200 yards of loam.

On Wednesday crews with steel rakes were evening out the surface.

Meanwhile a skid steer loader was going back and forth over the surface preparing it for planting.

The crew will plant grass this week and overseed in the spring to ready the field for play, a crew member said.

The installation and first seeding is expected to be finished this week.