by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
With the start of fall classes just two weeks away, final touches are being put on Kansas City Kansas Community College’s new softball complex.
The first all-weather field in the Jayhawk Conference, the official opening of the complex will come at a Blue Devil Alumni Game to be played Saturday, Oct 22.
“We feel that it is only right that the players who had to endure the old field have the opportunity to be the first on the new field,” said KCKCC head coach Kacy Tillery. Practices on the new field, however, will begin shortly after the start of the fall semester.
Preliminary work on the complex began last October with the demolition of the old field with most of the major construction completed this summer. Artificial turf on the infield and outfield was laid by Field Turf while the Precision Co. built batting cages, put up fencing in the outfield, along the foul lines and behind home plate and donated a new scoreboard.
Dugout, maintenance areas and a press box were constructed by the KCKCC Buildings and Grounds Division in conjunction with the Dr. Thomas R. Burke Technical Center.
“We’re excited,” Tillery said. “It’s a field I’d put up with any in the state of Kansas and that includes the four-year schools like KU, Wichita State and Emporia State.”
Tillery said the artificial turf should all but eliminate games lost to inclement weather.
“Just this past spring we had 14 doubleheaders either canceled or postponed by the weather and probably upwards of 50 or more over the last three years,” she said. “We’d have pools of water at home plate and first and third base. And that doesn’t approach the number of practices we lost because the field was not playable.”
One of the major changes is the rotation of the playing field with home plate facing in a southeasterly direction.
“Home plate is adjacent to the concession stand which will give fans much better access to the rest rooms and concessions,” Tillery said. The rotation will also eliminate fielders on the right side of the infield having to look directly into the sun.
“The new field will also be much safer,” she said. “As it was, the infield was scary because you’d never know which direction a hard hit ground ball might go.”
Other changes will include a warm-up area and three batting cages behind the third base dugout, a warm-up area for pitchers behind the visitor’s dugout and a limited amount of parking for the handicapped.
