The long-awaited San Jose State softball field will host its first softball game this Friday as the Spartans take on New Mexico at noon.
There will also be a ribbon-cutting ceremony, however the time has not yet been confirmed.
The team made history last season by becoming Mountain West Champions and making it to the second round of the 2017 NCAA Division I Softball Championship without a true home field.
The motto that the team had going with them was “No field, No Problem.”
Last May, head coach Peter Turner said, “I don’t mind taking a hit for one year but outside of that, I will begin to lose my recruits, my support and that winning spirit.”
The original field was torn up in 2016 and replaced by the new SJSU golf course and ground broke ground for their new facility last November.
The team has been patiently waiting for the field to be finished and the seniors will have one last chance to step onto an SJSU field.
“I know this will be really rewarding for the seniors to have their last home series played on home turf,” Richard Stanco, the superintendent of Blach Construction said Monday.
Because of the late-November start date, it set construction back a little longer than the crew had wished.
“Originally we were not doing any of the underground work which is all of the electric stuff,” Stanco said. “Doing the underground work in the middle of winter time isn’t the easiest.”
While the new field was being built, the softball team had an agreement with Mission College to continue hosting games in Santa Clara. When the team played at Mission College, the team was 3-3.
With six games remaining in the regular season and one home series left, SJSU currently sits third in the Mountain West Standings behind Fresno State and Boise State.
As far as the field, Stanco just hopes the games played at South Campus can energize the Spartans into a late-season run and make some noise in the tournament.
“I’ll be here Friday,” Stanco said. “We’ve worked long and hard for this to happen and what better prize is there than seeing the team succeed.”
