Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Chris Pezman said the facility will allow the team to train despite tough weather conditions. | Andres Chio/ The Cougar
An array of UH officials were on site for the ground breaking of Houston’s new indoor softball practice facility Wednesday afternoon.
“Today is such a blessing for us, it’s a huge monumental movement for the program to push the needle forward,” said softball head coach Kristin Vesely. “It’s a great opportunity for our student athletes and the program to have the Diamond Club sponsoring and investing in them. To give us all the facilities that we need to meet our goal to be a top 25 year in and year out.”
The yet-to-be-named facility will have five batting cages that can be moved around internally to open up space for other practice activities.
“Being able to build a facility that we know is going to change the way that our team trains and emphasize the importance of the program in the national recruiting landscape. It will give us a real opportunity to compete on a higher level that we’ve already earned,” said T.J. Meagher, the Senior Associate Athletics Director for Capital Projects, who is also overseeing the construction of the Fertitta Center.
The new facility will put UH on par with other major schools like No. 10 Texas A&M, which opened a new softball facility in April.
The new UH facility will cost $1.2 million, and the money was raised by the Diamond Club, which raises money for the softball program.
It will be Nash Industries’ second project on campus after it renovated part of the Athletics and Alumni Center in June. Nash also built Texas Southern’s Welcome Center, fountain and Nabrit Science Building.
Director of communications Kyle Rogers said the facility is scheduled to be done and operational by the start of the softball season in February.
