VALPO SOFTBALL COMPLEX

 

After spending its first 21 seasons playing off-campus at Kirchoff Park, the Valparaiso softball team moved on campus in 2003 as it began play at the Valpo Softball Complex.

The facility features a natural grass playing surface in the outfield and a dirt-skinned infield. The foul poles are 200 feet down both lines, with the center field fence 215 feet from home plate. A large scoreboard — which was updated prior to the 2017 season to feature the program’s league championships and NCAA Tournament appearances — sits beyond the left-center field fence, and spacious dugouts line both the first and third baselines. Beacon Hall, the campus’s newest residential dorm, provides a beautiful backdrop for the facility.

The facility underwent a number of substantial upgrades prior to the 2011 campaign. An aluminum grandstand structure was built, stretching behind the backstop from dugout to dugout. The middle section features chairback seating, while other sections provide bleacher seating.

Included in the construction of the grandstand structure was an enclosed press box atop the grandstand, with room and hookups for live audio/video broadcasts. A concession area was also built at ground level into the grandstand as well. Down the left-field line, a pair of batting cages were installed, enclosed by mesh netting. On the field, the warning track and infield were renovated as well.

Over the last few years, a number of other upgrades have been performed to the facility. The batting cages have been revamped and improved, while the bullpens beyond both dugouts have been enhanced. In the summer of 2016, an improved drainage system was installed and new sod laid down throughout the outfield.

During the summer of 2016, extensive work was also executed on the softball program’s facilities inside the Athletics-Recreation Center. The team’s indoor hitting area, located on the upper level of Hilltop Gym, was renovated to provide more flexibility and extended by 20 feet. Both the entrance to the program’s hitting area and the team’s locker room received spectacular new visual branding, allowing anybody who sees either area to immediately identify the spaces as Valpo Softball.

The Valpo Softball Complex hosted its first postseason event in 2012, as the Brown and Gold earned the right to host the Horizon League Softball Championship by winning the league’s regular season title. Valpo earned its first Horizon League tournament title that year as well, winning the championship in walk-off fashion in front of a large home crowd.

Key Facts

  • Opened: 2003
  • Capacity: 500
  • Home of Softball

Address

Softball Field, Valparaiso, IN 46383