Make the Perfect Pitching Mound

Make the Perfect Pitching Mound
By guest author: John Grant

Here is a project that when at first may seem daunting, but if you put your mind to it one that can easily be accomplished. That is building a pitching mound. Yeah, sounds a bit scary, right? But with a simple plan and a bit of knowledge, you can tackle this project yourself and will not have to hire a special contractor for it.

The pitching mounds used in the ballparks are built according to a specific size, namely it has to be 10 1/2" inches tall and 18' inches in diameter. The size of the mound can affect the quality of the game, so keep it in mind.

There is more to creating a pitching mound than shoveling bucketfuls of sand onto a surface. To get the pitching mound up to par with what is used in the game, you must have the right tools and materials.

To get started prepare the following materials: silt, clay sand and a rubber mat measuring 24 x 6. For the tools, you need a wheelbarrow, stakes, some string, a measuring tape, a roller press, a rake and shovel.

You begin the process by mixing the silt, sand and clay. Do not just dump everything in at once; mix it properly about an inch at a time. Make sure each component is added in equal amounts. One of the reasons why a lot of pitching mounds do not function properly is that the material used consists only of sand or clay. It has to be a mix of all three, and they must be joined together.

Next use the roller press to spread out the soil until it covers a diameter of 18 inches and it is an inch high.

Take a stake and place it at the 10 inch spot in front of the circle and secure it with a string. From the 17 inch mark of this stake place another one behind the soil. Go around the initial stake you placed. The result will be a more conspicuous slope at the back of your pitching mound. Add some more material into this spot.

Repeat this process for the pitching mound until it reaches ten inches high. At the top, place a stake 10"x 6" just in front of the mound. From five feet behind put in another stake. At the left and right border of the mound place four stakes. Put in half an inch of the composite material you mixed. If you constructed the pitching mound properly, there will be a one inch slope per foot.

Use the roller press to strengthen it. It should be 5 inches wide and 10 ½ inches high. Now you can install the rubber mat. Just put a stake in the center of the mound, Put the mat two inches from the spot where you put the stake, Make sure the front of the mat is centered and that it is set into the soil so it does not move. Once this is done, the pitching mound is finished.

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