April 27, 2018
Several hundred fans and friends of the San Jose State University softball program stayed following the team's 3-1 Mountain West victory over the University of New Mexico for the ribbon-cutting ceremony christening the new on-campus Spartan Softball Field.
Positioned at the University's South Campus next to the new Spartan Tennis Complex, the Spartan Softball Field is bordered by Humboldt Street from deep right centerfield to the right field foul pole and the football practice field from the left field foul pole to the centerfield.
"...The softball field actually met the deadline of the 2018 season," started San Jose State University director of athletics Marie Tuite in her remarks from home plate. "There were a lot of people grinding every single day to get this done.
"It was really, really important to hit that target. Boy or boy, we just tucked this field right in here. It looks pretty good."
Former San Jose State University athletics director Gene Bleymaier; boosters Rich and Cindy Thawley; San Jose State University President's Cabinet members Paul Lanning, Vice-President for University Advancement, Chief Diversity Officer Kathy Wong(Lau), Vice-President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Bob Lim; long-time Spartan softball booster Merlene Bottomley; Student Union Executive Director Cathy Busalacchi; members of the Blach Construction team; and project manager Trevor Thompson of Spartan Sports, LLC were singled out for their participation in the project.
"This facility will be used for clubs and intramurals, used for kinesiology classes, our general student body. And, a real important priority for us is we build facilities that can be shared by everyone," Tuite added.
"The top priority for this field, obviously, is our softball program, but then it's really important we bring other groups to our campus as we move our softball program forward."
"This is top-level, high-quality (athletics) facilities for every athlete at San Jose State and for all our community members to be a part of as well," Lanning said in his remarks with a special mention of Bleymaier for his vision to transform 62 acres of available campus property into vibrant and useful athletics facilities. "This is a great day and a great time for San Jose State Athletics."
"I've always wanted to stay here and build this program with fine athletes, to build this facility, to have my hand in everything. So, when we leave, we leave a legacy behind. I have no desire to go anywhere else, because, `why?' I have it all here," said San Jose State softball coach Peter Turner, the winningest coach in program history. The Spartans coach categorizes the park as a pitcher's park, but is conducive to line-drive, gap-hitting teams.
San Jose State has two more home games remaining this season on their new on-campus field with New Mexico Saturday, April 28 and Sunday, April 29. Both games begin at noon. The April 28 game is Senior Day with postgame ceremonies honoring shortstop Emma Entzminger from Victoria, British Columbia, and outfielder Brittany Abacherli from Corona, Calif.