Insider: New softball stadium awes

Senior Laynee Gomez has started 140 games in the outfield for Grand Canyon.

But when she took her spot in center field for a recent home scrimmage, the vantage point looking into GCU Softball Stadium blew her away.

A new home stadium was glistening back at her. The Lopes gained a new home field last season, but now they have a new stadium for when their season opens Thursday.

"I was standing out there just looking at it," Gomez said. "It's so big. It's so cool. I can't wait to see it filled. It's actually kind of intimidating to play in such a big field. I'm excited to be on the field with the lights and have the full experience of it."

GCU's 1-year-old FieldTurf and manicured infield are surrounded in jaw-dropping fashion by a 1,200-seat stadium with seatbacks, shading, a concession stand, public restrooms, a new press box and broadcast wiring.

"It's eye-catching," said Lopes head coach Ann Pierson, who started the program 15 years ago. "You don't have to know anything about the sport. You look at everything from the fence line back. Having been here as long as I have, I know what the changes were and the transition is. I love that people get to see it now. It's really neat for people who know what it was to see what it is now. Our alumni are coming out for opening day and I can't wait for them to see it."

When the team opens its season at 5:30 p.m. Thursday against Montana, fans will walk a landscaped concourse to a stadium that gives the options of individual chairback seats in the middle and benches with backs on the sides. Fabric shading protects the fans from the sun above a field that faces northeast.

"I don't know that there's a better softball game-watching experience on the West Coast, in terms of how many seats are in there and also how small and intimate it is," GCU associate athletic director for facilities and operations Tim Baron said. "It's pretty incredible. It's the same size as some of the SEC stadiums, but you feel connected from almost every seat."

Last season, the Lopes played on a new field with new dugouts and new batting cages, but fans were in temporary bleachers until the facility's second construction phase could begin in the offseason.

The players and coaches saw the new look gradually unveiled, as did anyone working out on the second floor of the expanded Lopes Performance Center to the south.

"It's crazy that it was just construction and then it slowly went up – first the snack bar, then the press box, then the bleachers," Lopes senior pitcher Mariah Valencia said. "Our fan base is so big that having the crowd is going to be so much louder than what we're used to."

The stadium opens a 33-game home schedule in grand style this week with the GCU Kickoff Tournament. The Lopes play a Thursday night doubleheader against Montana and will host program alumni, who either tell Pierson that they are staying away from stadium photographs to have a "wow" moment or that peeking at the progress makes them more eager to see it in person.

The Lopes expect to fill the stadium again over the weekend when they face national champion Oklahoma at 5:30 p.m. Friday in a game broadcast on YurView (Cox Phoenix channel 4), ESPN3 and GCU.TV. They play the Sooners again at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

"We're not going to turn people away because we have seating now," Pierson said. "It's going to be comfortable for the fans to have chairbacks and bleacher seating with backs and to not be crammed into the bleachers. We have a press box now. It's beautiful."

Follow Paul Coro on Twitter: @paulcoro.

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Laynee Gomez

Mariah Valencia

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