Stanford, California – Following the announcement that Stanford planned to build a new $ 50 million softball stadium, coach Jessica Allister was in Cloud Nine. This type of investment in softball is rare, and felt fortunate that the university showed this commitment to its program.
Allister had seen other restorations or improvements throughout the country before and, in those cases, the construction would generally begin as soon as the season ended and would last about nine months, in time for the next season, or at least for the time the conference's work begins.
She was under the impression that Stanford's timeline would be similar. Then came a meeting on the construction of the installation in January 2023.
“I can actually remember the meeting where we were entering,” Allister told ESPN. My administrator at that time looked at me and said: 'I think we are going to receive some news that they will not like today'. “
Indeed, he was right. The scope of the project was too big to complete the construction during the low season, which means that Stanford Softball would be without a local field for the 2025 season.
“My initial thoughts were: 'Very good, they are building a stadium of $ 50 million, there will be some potholes and bruises along the way, so it's fine,'” he said. “And then my next thought was that this is someone's last year and this is also 25% of most Stanford's experience of athletes in our campus, and we need to find a way to make sure that it can be as good as possible.”
Stanford administrators worked on some possibilities, even playing completely on the way for the 2025 season, whether they were true road games or becoming a tenant in a nearby school, such as Santa Clara or San José State, for games at home. But there insisted that those were not acceptable solutions.
The Stanford Atlético Complex is one of the largest in university sports, so the approach changed to discovering a place on the campus to have a temporary field.
“You need a public address, you need some kinds of stands. It would be really pleasant if you have a marker, video board, all these pieces. And we were looking for the entire campus, how could this work?” Said Levine, associate director of facilities athletics. “We observed some of our smaller facilities and while we talked, I remember being in Google Maps and looking at the size of the softball field and saying: 'I think we could leave it at the Stadium'”.
The stadium, in this case, was the football stadium.
“We all look at each other, and is this possible?” Levine said.
It turns out that it was. There was enough space to adapt to a field that met all the criteria required by the NCAA, so it was only a matter of logistics. They would have to wait for the end of the football season and have a aligned provider to install a ground field, protective networks, a warning track, a fence and other details to meet the standard of a softball stadium of division I.
“I think it was [athletic director Bernard Muir] Who said: 'Jess, we have it. You are playing in the football stadium, and my jaw fell, “said Allister.” And I'm like, 'Really?' And then he said: 'Yes, think about it. You have the grass, we have the stands, we have the score, we have the music, we have the concessions, the bathrooms, all for the experience of the game day is there, the lights. They need a new grass anyway, we will wear it, we will put it in a picture, build it, play in the football stadium '”.
At first, Allister said she was not completely convinced. If she gave a qualification, it would have been a B-minus.
“Then, as everything was built and reached life, it became an A-Plus solid,” he said. “It has been absolutely phenomenal and beyond everything I could have imagined.”
On Saturday, when Stanford receives the Rival Cal (4 PM ET in ACT extra), the school will try to break the Softball Assistance record of the NCAA of a single 12,566 game, which was established last year in the Women's World Series College in Oklahoma City.
“It seems that you have to do it, right? We'll never play again in a football stadium, I don't think,” said Allister. “And no one else is playing at the football stadium. So, it is this unique opportunity in life, and obviously seemed something we needed to try.”
During the past year, when Allister told People that the team was playing at the football stadium this season, the first thing they asked was logistics.
“Then your next question is, then, when are you going to try to sell it?” She said. “And I say, 'Well, we'll see'. But the lime series feels like a natural adjustment.
The dimensions are a bit different from what Stanford had been accustomed. In the right field line, the fence is only 192 feet, which is two feet above the NCAA minimum and approximately 20 feet more shallow than the cardinal's right field line in its permanent home. Stanford has reached 35 home runs at home so far this season, which is tied in the 13th more in the nation.
“We are reaching many home runs in this field, surely,” said the gardener Caelan Koch, who is a last year student. “It has been incredible.”
Koch said team players have appreciated the additional effort to make this season memorable as the new installation is built.
“It is very likely that other schools would not have done this and had to play on the road almost the whole season,” he said. “So we were very excited to play at home and have our own field and it's something really great.”
