Baseball and softball fans love this time of year. Major League Baseball is just getting underway, and the college baseball and softball seasons are already in full swing. For many, the sound of the crack of the bat is both exciting and nostalgic. However, for Austin Cox, a sophomore in political science, this sound could spell danger.

Cox is an outfielder on his intramural softball team, Manifest Destiny. His team has played its games on Upper Miller Field, where the softball fields are so close that they overlap in places.

“It’s almost like we’re playing two games on one field,” Cox said. “I was playing pretty deep into the other team’s outfield. I was probably playing in the other team’s right field, and their center fielder was playing almost at our second base. That tells you about how much the fields were overlapping.”

Cox and others are concerned about the hazard of having the outfielders in such close proximity to one another. Ben Dodd, a sophomore in graphic design, said there is a risk of getting hit by another game’s balls and players.

“It was dangerous because I could get hit by their fly ball that they did not catch because they’re not good or because nobody said anything for me to get out of the way,” Dodd said. “If I just wasn’t paying attention, I could either get hit by the ball or get hit by another player trying to catch the ball.”

Jason Spivey, the assistant director of Intramural Sports, said Campus Recreation is aware of the danger and takes precautions to prevent people from getting hurt.

“We obviously recognize that they are in close proximity to each other, and it’s something that we try and have our employees be conscious of and just make teams aware of what’s going on,” Spivey said. “We try to do our best to schedule the games so there won’t be as many long-ball hitters up there, so we try our best with it. It’s definitely something we’re conscious of and something we want to do our best to make sure everyone is safe.”

Despite these precautions, Cox said games played on the upper fields could still be chaotic and perilous.

“I had the other team’s fielders running in and out between our fielders,” Cox said. “I got bumped into by one of their outfielders and told to ‘get out the way.’ It’s just pretty chaotic when you go out there and watch a game.”

Spivey, however, said the Upper Miller Fields must be used to accommodate the quantity of intramural softball games.

“In order for us to try to allow teams to play and not have to cancel games, that was an alignment that we felt we could do in a multi-program area,” Spivey said. “We still have other programs going on up there like club soccer, so that was as far away that I could put the fields without impacting other program areas.”

Spivey said he has received a few complaints and questions regarding the placement of the fields, but no one has gotten hurt yet. Cox said it is only a matter of time, however.

“I know we’ve been lucky so far, but I think that it needs to be changed,” Cox said. “Something needs to be done, or someone will get hurt.”