As if the six national championships, the dozens of All-Americans and a legendary coach were not enough, Alicia Hollowell fell in love with Rita Hillenbrand Memorial Stadium the first time she came to the UA.
"I thought it was perfect when I got here my freshman year," said Hollowell, now a senior. "But I guess there's always something you can do better."
Considered the benchmark for state-of-the-art collegiate softball facilities when it opened in 1993, Hillenbrand over the years began to look outdated as schools throughout the country constructed their own top-of-the-line complexes.
But with recent upgrades that cost $726,000, Hillenbrand once again is a top-of-the-line softball venue.
"We needed to show we were going to continue upgrading and not just keep the status quo," UA coach Mike Candrea said of the renovations, which include a new scoreboard, larger (and permanent) outfield bleachers and covered batting cages. "It's some thoughts we've had over the years, and it was all just a matter of putting it together. The administration was finally able to put it together."
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Thanks to private funding — mostly in the form of another gift from the Hillenbrand family, Candrea said — the UA's stadium is back in line with Pac-10 facilities recently built or updated at Arizona State, California, Oregon State, Stanford and UCLA.
"We have been blessed to recruit on our past successes," Candrea said. "But kids are sometimes looking for reasons to eliminate schools, and facilities sometimes come into that."
Freshman third baseman Jenae Leles said the atmosphere at Hillenbrand was "already awesome" when she visited the stadium last year, but knowing about the improvements weighed in her decision.
"Other schools I was looking at didn't have this much stuff," Leles said.
Covered batting cages, which stand on the area far down the left field line where the old cages stood, are equipped with lights and will enable the Wildcats to get in hitting practice, even in bad weather.
"In the past, when we got rain, we'd get washed out. We'd go into McKale if we could, or Bear Down (Gym) if we could, or try to use the baseball batting cages."
The rest of the improvements, said junior shortstop Kristie Fox, are "for everyone else, more than it is for us."
The bleachers, which add more than 200 seats to increase the stadium's official capacity to 2,956, replace the older, portable grandstand the UA rented each year. Those bleachers, with wooden benches, had to be assembled piecemeal.
The scoreboard, which stands on three steel beams beyond the right field fence and just in front of the Ina E. Gittings Building, features a videoboard that Candrea said will show highlight clips and short videos of UA players when they come to the plate.
The videoboard also will allow the UA to sell advertising without plastering ads throughout the stadium, something benefactor William G. Hillenbrand did not want to see when he originally donated money to the school for its softball complex.
"This way we can at least advertise in a classy way," Candrea said.
Candrea said he hopes to add a training room behind the cages and bleachers, where portable trailers used to house the Wildcats' equipment. The team will continue to dress at McKale.
The UA will not play an official game in its renovated stadium until Feb. 17, when it will take on Texas Tech, North Carolina State, Tennessee Tech, Missouri and Pacific in the Worth Wildcat Tournament.
The UA will open its season Friday at a tournament in Tempe.
● Recent upgrades at Hillenbrand Stadium:
Permanent outfield bleachers $349,500
Video-capable scoreboard $313,000
Covered batting cages $63,500
Total cost $726,000
SOURCE: University of Arizona
Today
● What: UA softball alumni game
● Where: Hillenbrand Stadium
● When: 1 p.m.
● Notable: The game will match members of the 1996 UA team, which won the NCAA title, against selected former Wildcat players. A home run hitting contest will be held at 12:30 p.m. The 1996 team will be honored at 12:50 p.m.
