How the Lippold Park renovations will improve this year’s MCYSA summer baseball tournament

For many years, the Mickey Sund Baseball Complex at Crystal Lake’s Lippold Park has hosted some of the McHenry County Youth Sports Association’s Summer International Championships’ biggest moments.

Teams from across the world have gathered there for the tournament’s opening ceremonies. Fans have convened for special nights to honor local heroes, listen to local musician groups or watch thrilling games. No matter the moment, the complex has served as the tournament’s central location where nearly all of the most important events took place.

But the complex hasn’t always felt like a fitting host for those big events. The crooked poles holding up nets and the aging infrastructure surrounding the four baseball fields were one of the few things there was to complain about the tournament for many fans and teams.

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Members to the Cay Trojans baseball team play with their bates as the wait for the game to begin during the opening round of the Under 13 McHenry County Youth Sports Association’s Summer International Championship baseball tournament on Friday, July 11, 2025, at the Mickey Sund Baseball Complex in Crystal Lake's Lippold Park. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

That will change at this year’s tournament. Thanks to a $2.4 million renovation project conducted by the Crystal Lake Park District over the past year, the complex will feel like a fitting host to some of the 32nd annual tournament’s biggest moments.

“It’s fantastic for the tournament,” MCYSA executive tournament director Dan Malone said. “It’s fantastic for the city and the park district. It puts a much nicer light on our facilities and our ability to put on a first-class tournament.”

It’s been a project years in the making for park district manager of recreation facilities Claire Naughton and athletic supervisor Bobby Gross. After years of applying for funding to support the renovations for the aging complex, the park district board approved the funding in its budget last spring. Construction started after Thanksgiving last year and continued through the winter and spring.

The renovations are a complete makeover of the complex. MCYSA fans will be greeted with limestone pathways to the complex that will have new spectator bleachers and a concrete ribbon that connects all four fields. The aged fencing was also replaced with black fencing and 40-foot nets were hung behind each field’s backstop.

Each field received improved dugouts, two new bullpens and new warning tracks, among other things. Three fields have a new pitching mound and the two northern fields will have new scoreboards.

The park district also added an area where food trucks can station during tournaments.

“It’s just a very clean, chic look,” Naughton said.

There was more detailed work as well. The two southern fields had substantial work done from the ground up. The district improved stormwater management and made drainage improvements for the fields while also adding grass to the infield instead of having all dirt.

The Boncosky fields also had some minimal site re-grading to improve drainage.

Renovations on the two northern fields concluded in May and will be used by the MCYSA this season. The park district is still waiting on the final improvements and blades of grass to grow on the southern fields, which aren’t ready in time for the tournament.

Although the full work is expected to be done by the end of July, Gross and Naughton were proud of how years’ worth of planning turned out.

“It was just a huge team effort from not only everybody within the park district, but the community as well,” Gross said. “To get their voices heard and bring back a state of the art complex.”

Although all four fields won’t be ready for this year’s tournament, Malone was excited for fans to get a whole new experience at Lippold Park. They’re helping the MCYSA compete in a competitive baseball tournament world where there are plenty of tournaments to choose from.

Many teams across the area and the world have always been drawn to the MCYSA’s grass fields and the community atmosphere that surrounds the tournament. But having state-of-the-art facilities will be another strong thing to sell.

“When you walk up to the fields for the first time and you see everything is pristine and perfect, it just has a different feel than obviously when things are crooked and falling over and being held up with chewing gum and wire straps,” Malone said. “The dugouts will be nicer, so when it rains, the dugouts won’t flood. So all that just makes for a much nicer experience.”

The tournament is held at different parks across McHenry County, but Lippold Park will host many of the major events. Seventy-four 15U games will be played on the field over the next few weeks as well as the opening ceremonies for both sessions.

Malone is excited to have a venue worthy of all those lifetime moments.

“It just kind of gives you a really great feeling,” Malone said. “That’s the kind of feeling that we want to have everybody have, just by looking at our fields.”