Oklahoma softball: Revised plans approved for new $22 million stadium
By Chip Rouse
Over the past two decades, Oklahoma softball has been one of the premier teams in all of college softball.
The first game played at Marita Hynes Field, the Sooners’ current softball home, was in 1998. Oklahoma has won a total of 1,005 games since Marita Hynes Field became the home of Sooner softball. That represents almost 60 percent of OU’s 1,762 victories all-time.
Over the past 20 years, the Sooners have been virtually unbeatable when playing at home, winning 462 games and losing just 60 times in 21 seasons. That’s a sky-high winning percentage of .885.
Included in those 1,005 softball victories are four national championships and 12 appearances in the Women’s College World Series. The Sooners just missed out on a third consecutive national title this season, finishing third in the WCWS behind champion Florida State and Washington.
Two things have remained constant throughout that incredible 20-year run by the Sooners: Marita Hynes Field and head coach Patty Gasso.
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Oklahoma was a perfect 30-0 at home this past season. Eighteen of those contests were sellouts, which is an excellent problem to have but nevertheless stretches the capacity of the 1,400-seat current facility. Close to 2,000 fans packed Marita Hynes Field on May 26, when the Sooners defeated Arkansas 9-0 in the championship game of the Norman Super Regional.
OU’s success on the softball diamond has translated into large crowds and increasing numbers of fans who are interested in seeing one of the country’s top softball teams play.
Earlier this week, the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents rewarded that sustained softball success by approving a redesign plan and updated programming information for a new $22 million softball stadium. There is no immediate construction timeline for the new facility, which is projected to seat 3,000 fans and is proposed for a site about a half-mile south of the present stadium.
The revised plan “alters the previous masterplan for renovation of the present location to allow space for the implementation of the required programmatic facility elements, make further use of adjacent athletics facilities and take advantage of existing parking in the immediate vicinity,” according to a statement issued by the OU athletic department.
Among the changes that are part of the revised design plan are a 10,000 square-foot indoor practice facility, which is almost twice the size of the present facility, and several team spaces that include a new training room, locker room and classroom.
The planned new, state-of-the-art OU softball complex truly will be one of the best in the country, a fitting backdrop for one of the country’s top softball teams over the past couple of decades. I should provide a great boost in both training and recruiting and offer fans a host of additional amenities.