Prospect Meadows Ready for Busy Season

If you love baseball and softball and want to see as many games as possible this year, go ahead and pitch a tent at Prospect Meadows and settle in for the next eight months.

Chances are, there will be a game to watch just about every day.

The 2020 season is scheduled to begin this weekend (March 7-8) with the start of the Perfect Game Spring League, along with four games for the Upper Iowa University baseball team.

There will be 30 PG Spring League games this Saturday alone, beginning at 10 a.m. on seven fields. The eighth field has been reserved for an Upper Iowa twin-bill at noon.

The Upper Iowa Peacocks were scheduled to open their home season in Fayette this weekend, but their field is not ready and they’ll play a pair of doubleheaders at Prospect Meadows instead.

Want more games and events?

There will be 15 Perfect Game tournaments and five Game Day tournaments at the complex this year. The Metro Baseball Tournament also will be held at Prospect Meadows on May 25 and May 26, with all eight teams in action at the same time on May 25 in the opening round.

Want some more?

The Positive Sports Training youth baseball and softball organization has scheduled 250 games at Prospect Meadows this season on weekday nights. Perfect Game will be holding a bunch of girls softball games here as well, and the Cedar Rapids Recreation Department plans to stage some of their adult slow-pitch softball games here.

There’s also the immensely popular Miracle League on Saturdays, the League of Dreams, and the Marion Recreation League. And in their “spare” time, the folks who run Prospect Meadows are planning other special events as well.

Prospect Meadows opened for business last year in late May, so this will be the first full season from March through October.

“We’re excited to be opening for our second year,” Prospect Meadows General Manager Steve James said this week. “Year 1 was good to get our feet under us, and I think we’re prepared for this year.”

It all starts Saturday, with terrific weather on the schedule. “We’re coming right out of the gate and getting a bunch of games in,” he said.

James and Prospect Meadows President/CEO Jack Roeder viewed the 2019 campaign as a trial run for the new complex. It got a little hectic at times, especially with the spring last year, but they’re glad they got started when they did.

“It was fantastic, because we learned a lot last year,” James said. “We don’t have to worry about getting the outfield grass growing and getting the concessions stands built now. We’re ready to go.”

The Perfect Game and Game Day tournaments attracted more than 450 travel teams to Prospect Meadows last year. They expect more than 1,000 travel teams in 2020. There were more than 300 local night league games last season, but they expect that number to top 1,000 this year.

It all starts Saturday. Pitch a tent and settle in.