Jane Sanders Stadium - A Dream Finally Realized
03/24/16 | Softball
EUGENE, Ore. – Long after the rest of their teammates had left Jane Sanders Stadium, Koral Costa and Danica Mercado stood next to the home dugout, talking and laughing.
The Oregon softball team had just been given its first look inside the new $17.2 million stadium and the friends – who go by Doral, a combination of their first names – simply didn't want to leave.
Costa, Mercado and their teammates toured the gleaming new facility Tuesday, two days before its grand opening for Oregon's game Thursday against Stanford at 6 p.m. For Costa, a senior who won three straight Pac-12 championships with the Ducks at old Howe Field, seeing her new home facility was almost unbelievable.
“I never thought I was going to get a chance to walk into a new stadium during my career,” Costa said. “Now to realize I get to play on this field, it's unreal. I'm flabbergasted. The showers, the bathrooms, the locker room, it's all spectacular. We have our own practice area too. It's all so unbelievable.”
For many years the dream of a new stadium was unbelievable. But that changed on June 7, 2014, when Oregon alum Bob Sanders made the first of two donations totaling $16 million to get the ball rolling on a new stadium in honor of his late wife, Jane. The couple had met at the UO, where Bob was a football player and Jane was a cheerleader. More recently, Jane and her grandchildren took an interest in Oregon softball, often watching games together.
It's that interest which led to this point, and the new home facility the Ducks got to tour Tuesday.
"Through the generosity of Mr. Sanders and the Sanders family, the dream of a state-of-the-art softball stadium is now a reality,” said athletics director Rob Mullens. “Jane Sanders Stadium delivers on the vision of an exceptional student-athlete experience and an outstanding fan experience. Most importantly, the stadium honors the legacy of Mrs. Sanders - a wonderful woman who loved her Ducks."
“We couldn't have done this without Bob Sanders,” said university president Michael Schill. “The success of the softball team and this beautiful stadium project demonstrates once again how we can elevate UO programs with the right focus, determination and strategic investments. This is a model I hope the entire university can follow to achieve excellence.”
Earlier during the team tour, sisters Janelle and Lauren Lindvall walked the outfield, soaking up everything. From the graphics on the outfield wall that feature Pac-12 title years and Women's College World Series appearances, to the high-definition videoboard in right field and the iconic roof behind home plate, there was certainly a lot to take in.
“After touring it, they did everything completely over the top, as Oregon tends to do,” Janelle Lindvall said. “I'm really excited to play here. A lot of our fans are super excited as well and I can't wait to see their reaction.”
The fan reaction to the new ballpark has been striking. The Ducks, offering season tickets for softball for the first time ever, have sold out all 1,500 chairback seats for the entire year. After this weekend's games against the Cardinal, bleachers will be erected in center field, allowing for 1,000 more single-game tickets to be sold for future games.
With temporary bleachers in multiple locations around the park, the Ducks closed Howe Field with a record 2,061 fans in attendance for an NCAA Super Regional win over North Carolina State on May 23, 2015. Long-time groundskeeper Bill Centrella did a hero's job keeping Howe Field operational for many years, maintaining a stadium originally built for baseball in 1936.
To win three straight Pac-12 titles in the outdated facility was a testament to the job done by head coach Mike White and his staff. Now, thanks to the generosity of the Sanders family, Oregon's home field matches the quality of its team.
The team will have access to a sparkling new locker room, with yellow glass showers and each locker featuring a player's name etched into a large wooden handle. The locker room is attached to a new player lounge, with a kitchen, a large study table, leather couches and a giant TV. Down the hall are new state-of-the-art treatment and equipment rooms, with coaches' offices and a film room upstairs. Keycard entry will allow players to hit or pitch at a new indoor practice facility whenever they wish.
“There's not a bad spot to take a photo in this place, it's so picturesque,” Costa added. “Now to bring in recruits, it will be so big for us. Some of the other schools have always had an advantage on us with the little sandlot we used to have. Now we have this place. It will be huge going forward.”
