Work on a $3 million renovation project on the city-owned softball complex at Fort Lewis College is to begin in March, displacing the Fort Lewis College team for the entire 2017 season.
On Friday, the college announced a plan to play the entirety of its home schedule at the Aztec Tiger Sports Complex in New Mexico, the home site of Aztec High School.
Cathy Metz, director of Durango Parks and Recreation, said Friday that the city’s summer recreational leagues will use other Durango fields to complete this year’s events. She pointed to opportunities at fields at the La Plata County Fairgrounds as well as Folsom Park and the Riverview Sports Complex once spring baseball seasons are over.
The biggest burden falls on the FLC softball program, which must travel more than 70 miles round-trip for every home game. FLC typically plays four consecutive home games on Saturdays and Sundays.
“When you basically don’t have a home game, it makes the season increasingly more difficult,” said FLC second-year head coach Elle Fracker. “We will do our best as a team to make Aztec our home field for the year, and know they’ll do everything they can to make it as accommodating as possible.”
Fracker said she hopes the project will greatly improve the experience for players and fans beginning in 2018.
“As far as overall aesthetic, we’d love to have something that matches our opponents better,” she said. “When you look at the (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference), we have easily one of the bottom two fields in the conference. It impacts recruiting, and I’m hopeful they keep that in mind.”
FLC is contributing $250,000 to the projects, which include new tennis courts on campus. Those are scheduled to be constructed simultaneously. Other contributors include Great Outdoors Colorado and the Durango Community Tennis Association.
Metz said the design process began a year ago and final designs are being completed with a contractor, Colorado Jaynes Construction Company. The press box building will be torn down. A new structure at that site will include press boxes, locker rooms and restrooms to replace the row of portable toilets. The fields must be completely reconstructed with new irrigation systems, grass, scoreboards and dugouts.
“We’ve worked closely with FLC because it is their facility for their softball program as well as the city rec softball leagues,” Metz said. “It is our intention to get the majority of the hardscape, building reconstruction and work completed so the fields are playable in 2018. Some final landscaping could carry over into next year.”
Aztec, which boasts one of the top high school softball programs in New Mexico, will welcome the Skyhawks with open arms. San Juan County in New Mexico is a hotbed for softball, with top high school programs such as Piedra Vista, Farmington and Bloomfield all within 15 minutes of Aztec.
Aztec head coach Roy Johnson, a legendary figure who won numerous state titles at Farmington High, said the Tigers and surrounding communities will embrace the chance to host college softball.
“For us, it’s an opportunity to watch college softball and build a relationship with Fort Lewis,” he said. “It’s good for both schools. We will semi-promote their games for them because we’ll get out and let everyone know we have a college team on our field. They’ll come watch us, and our team will watch them.”
Johnson hopes it will give New Mexico girls a chance to be seen and get recruited by FLC, an NCAA Division II institution. Despite the high-level of softball played in San Juan County, the Skyhawks have long failed to recruit the area, seeing top players go to rival schools such as Colorado Mesa in Grand Junction.
“The coach they have now, we have a good relationship with them and the athletic director (Gary Hunter),” Johnson said. “One of the first things the AD talked to me about was he wanted the coach to start looking at this area. Softball is so big right here, so we feel like it will be a win-win for them to play here, not a loss.”
Fracker said the team will look around Durango for patches of dry dirt for infield drills. The team is used to practicing indoors this time of year, but she hopes the team won’t have to travel as far as Aztec to get routine practices.
“All you can do is stay positive,” she said. “We just gotta keep our fingers crossed and remain optimistic. With a big project like this, there are always a lot of hopes.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
