New youth softball complex a hit
Jul. 25—A $6.1 million youth softball complex had its official grand opening Tuesday at Mankato's Thomas Park, earning universal compliments.
"By far, it will be the nicest in the Big Nine," said Joe Madsen, coach of the state champion Mankato East High School softball team.
"The premier softball field in the state of Minnesota," said John Considine, vice president of the Mankato Area Girls Fastpitch Association.
"More than what we ever thought possible," said Mayor Najwa Massad.
And an elderly community member checking out the championship field in the six-field complex — complete with artificial turf, a large Daktronics scoreboard, recessed and lighted concrete dugouts, real bullpens, a new concessions/restroom/locker room building and plenty of seating with fine-mesh fencing to provide a better viewing experience for spectators — offered his opinion to no one in particular.
"These are pretty first-class digs here," he said.
The project, which totaled more than $6.4 million when design costs are included, transformed a standard adult-league softball field into the championship field and replaced a trio of no-frills youth fields into a pinwheel of four new fields. Combined with the existing East High varsity softball field, the complex is expected to be an attractive site for youth softball tournaments. It will also provide top-notch facilities for young softball players, matching the Little League baseball complex the city opened just south of Rosa Parks Elementary School in 2012.
The City Council's decision 13 months ago to move forward with the ambitious project despite higher-than-expected construction costs produced tears of joy from longtime youth softball advocates. They had been working for improved facilities for more than a decade and thought the Thomas Park project was about to become a reality in November 2016 when Mankato voters approved an extension of the half-percent local sales tax, partly to finance improvements to parks and youth sports facilities.
However, in the first years following the successful referendum, other projects eclipsed softball for the sales tax revenue. Then the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by high construction bids caused further delays. The perseverance was rewarded when the first games were played at the new complex a month ago following nearly a year of construction.
Tuesday brought the official celebration. The blazing sun and 90-plus degree temperatures may have cut into the size of the crowd, but it was an All-American ceremony with a marching band playing "Stars and Stripes Forever," free hotdogs at the spacious new concessions stand, a mayor throwing out the first pitch and a giant pair of scissors employed for the official ribbon-cutting.
Along with the first-class athletics facilities, the complex puts the "park" in "ballpark." Trails wind throughout and connect to the high school and surrounding neighborhoods. A grove of a mature cottonwoods offers a shady spot just past the right-field bullpen of the championship field, and scores of younger trees have been planted, along with perennials and shrubs. Picnic tables with umbrellas and a playground are included as well.
Batting cages were placed between the two fields on the south side of the complex and the pinwheel of youth fields to the north. And that quartet of fields has its own set of restrooms.
"They did phenomenally," Massad said of the design, the construction and the landscaping. "It was beyond expectations ... just the way everything is put strategically in the right places."
That was actually true of Massad's ceremonial first pitch, too, despite her serious doubts about her ability to make a quality toss from the pitching rubber.
"I was going like this up until just before I went out," Massad said, making rapid-fire signs of the cross.
But after warning the crowd that she was a badminton player — not a softball player — in her youth, the mayor fired an underhand fastball knee-high on the outside corner of the plate for a strike.
