Michelle Krill Memorial Field at Historic Pullman Park is a busy place this time of year.

Seven high school baseball programs — including Butler County schools Butler, Knoch, Karns City and Moniteau — call the facility home. Clarion University, Butler County Community College and Penn State-Greater Allegheny play home games there as well.

The National Club Baseball Association’s Division III World Series will be played at Pullman May 19 to 21 and the Butler BlueSox will play their home games there this summer.

Yet field maintenance concerns have popped up this season.

“The turf (infield) is 10 to 12 years old. It’s patched together by clumps,” Butler coach Josh Forbes said. “That turf needs to be replaced ... yesterday.

“When that turf was first put in, it was beautiful. I played on it. But if you look at the turf on our football field (Art Bernardi Stadium), at Seneca Valley’s baseball field, it’s one big piece rolled out. The turf at Pullman has too many cracks and holes now.”

Karns City baseball coach Josh “Sluggo” Smith said one of his players was injured as a result of the patchwork.

“During warmups before the Moniteau game, Mike Neff, our first baseman, was fielding a throw on a short-hop from our shortstop. The ball hit one of those lips in the turf in front of the bag and caromed 2½ in the air,” Smith said. “Mike suffered a broken nose and had to miss the game against our rival school as a result.

“Bad hops can happen on any field, but to see a ball carom like that on an infield throw ... It wasn’t natural. That was because of that lip in the turf.”

Coaches also are questioning the worn-out protective fences in front of the dugouts, holes in the netting protecting people in the stands, and a bumpy outfield surface. The outfield is natural grass.

“Sluggo sent me an email detailing safety concerns of playing at Pullman,” Karns City athletic director Josh Williams said. “He said the fences in front of the dugouts are in need of repair and other issues needed addressed.”

“Foul balls have sailed into those dugouts,” Forbes said.

Yet teams continue to play at the historic ballpark.

“It’s all about the turf,” Forbes said. “You can get games in there. The weather’s been nice lately, but usually, we’re dealing with raining weather and soggy fields in the spring. You have to get games in. Pullman is a great field for that. Everyone knows it, and that’s why so many teams schedule games there.

“But if the field at our high school had turf, we would not be playing at Pullman Park.”

Dean Selfridge, director of Pullman Park, said there is a checklist of repairs for the facility, and those repairs will be made before the end of the 2023 baseball season.

But funding and how the field is treated remain a problem.

“There’s no tax revenue help here,” Selfridge said of the ballpark. “Our funding comes through field rental, ticket sales, concessions and sponsorship. We have a mortgage of $3,000 a month. We have to pay our staff people who work the games. We have to pay for the use of (stadium) lights.

“We understand the field concerns, but those other things have to come first.”

Forbes and Smith sympathize with the financial situation at Pullman Park.

“They’re trying, they’re handcuffed financially ... I understand that,” Forbes said. “It’s just frustrating. This place was built to be the Taj Mahal for baseball around here. It’s hard to maintain that.”

It’s even harder considering the volume of games being played there.

“Turf fields are designed for one team playing there each day for three or four months,” Smith said. “The situation here is two or three games are being played on this field virtually every day for months, over a few years ... The turf is bound to wear out.”

Selfridge said players stand and lean on fences in front of the dugouts. Metal spikes are not permitted on the playing surface.

“Teams have shown up here wearing metal spikes, and that damages the turf,” Selfridge said. “Teams are supposed to wear the softer spikes, but that’s a hard rule to enforce.

“One by one, we are going to address all of these concerns. Within seven weeks, we’re hoping to have the repairs completed, but there are no guarantees. We’re still dependent on finances.”