The Observer, September 12, 2008
Volume XLI, Issue 3
Softball field gets new name, major renovations
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Case's softball field now has a name, and soon it will have stadium seating, a press box, and other amenities. The upgraded field has been christened "Mather Park," in tribute to Flora Stone Mather and the alumnae of the college that bears her name. When completed, it will look similar to Nobby's Ballpark, where the baseball team plays its home games.
Mather Park is the only athletic facility on campus that is solely for women. "We had no other choice but to take care of that," said Sandra Vodanoff, president of the Flora Stone Mather Alumnae Association. It was the FSM Alumnae's donation, received on June 30, that keyed the project.
According to Vodanoff and Pat Kilpatrick, a past president of the association and the university's first female vice president, the decision to support the upgrades to the softball field was an easy one. "Everybody voted yes," said Vodanoff. Gary Pillar, the assistant athletic director for development, pitched the "Mather Park" idea to the FSM Alumnae this past spring.
"Being able to give money away is a wonderful feeling," said Kilpatrick.
"We're giving lots of it away, so we feel really good," added Vodanoff, with a smile.
The Mather contribution was essential because softball, which only became a varsity sport in 1996, lacks the alumnae base to support the current project. Most are still paying off student loans. That's why, as a general rule, men's teams have an easier time raising money. According to administrators, the softball facility has been a priority for the athletic department since the construction of the Village at 115. Securing funding has been the issue.
The planning for the upgraded facility is still in the preliminary stages. A decision on the architect has not yet taken place, and a timeline hasn't been established for the actual construction. Current plans call for around 100 chair back seats behind home plate with additional bleacher seating on the sides.
"I'm really excited that the program gets [Mather Park]," said senior right-handed pitcher Ruthe Sagartz. "It will be nice to have a place for fans to sit."
The team's other senior, Angel Rice, was just as happy. "Just having a stadium, having a name with some meaning behind it, it has a good feel," she said.
Mather Park, located alongside Clarke Tower, will be used during the summer months by community groups, including the National Youth Sports Program, which CWRU has been running in conjunction with the NCAA for over 30 years. The NYSP brings over 300 kids from inner-city neighborhoods to campus for sports and educational activities.
Another important donation came from the vice president for Student Affairs, Glenn Nicholls and his family. The facility's new press box will be called the "Peggy Nicholls Press Box," after his late wife, who died of complications from leukemia in December.
The news of the Mather gift came to Glenn at a time when he was looking for a way to memorialize his wife, a high school math teacher who cared deeply about opportunities for women in sports and in education.
"It just felt right. I talked to both of my daughters and they agreed," he said. The press box is important to the plans because it would allow CWRU to host playoff games.
Together, the two gifts total about 60 percent of the estimated $250,000 cost of the upgrades.
One final, critical, contribution came from an anonymous current Case faculty member: a tarp to cover Mather Park's infield. The tarp was ordered Wednesday. Dry weather is scarce during softball's spring season, and without a tarp to keep the infield dry, the Spartans have been forced to cancel home games or reschedule them far away from home. "You can't ever get in game mode because there are too many variables," said Sagartz.
Since building of the stadium will be done outside of the actual field, the team's season won't be disrupted. That process could begin after Sagartz and Rice graduate.
"I wish I could see the construction," said Sagartz. "I'm a civil engineering major, so construction is exciting for me."
