Softball fields are hubs of excitement and competition. With well-maintained turfs, vibrant green outfields, and big dugouts, they are the perfect place for a game of softball. As of right now, however, this is for Claremont High School whose softball field, located in Cahuilla Park, is notoriously quite the opposite. From having miniature dug outs to an overgrown bullpen, the CHS Softball team’s frustration mounted until late last year with a decision to relocate.

One factor in the decision was the disparity between the softball and baseball facilities. Every year the softball team has been left to wonder why their facility paled in comparison to that of the baseball team’s, questions which prompted a 2023 lawsuit over the unequal facilities. One of the complaints in the lawsuit was that the team was forced to change in the park’s public restrooms because there are no locker rooms at the park. Sophia Sink, a CHS sophomore and varsity player for the team, was deeply dissatisfied by the current facilities. 

 “My least favorite part about the Cahuilla Park softball field is the overall 

quality of the field and unevenness between the grass and dirt,” Sink said. “This has been an issue for softball for years. Parents and players alike have been complaining about their quarter mile walk to the softball field from the school.” 

     Thanks to the lawsuit, parents and players alike will no longer have to make the quarter mile trek. As of this year a new field is in the process and will be adjacent to the baseball field, south of the school. As construction progresses, excitement has been building around the field’s completion.

Softball fields are not cheap, and this one is no exception. The district is looking to pay somewhere between $2-3 million for this project. The new field is located on the south end of campus between the baseball and football fields, where the freshmen soccer teams formerly practiced. The new softball field will have the following: a leveled outfield and infield, storm drainage, a clubhouse, batting cages, an electronic scoreboard, covered dugouts, two bullpens, a water filling station, a vertical softball backstop, permanent outfield fencing, foul poles, a flagpole and lastly freestanding bleachers. Varsity Softball Coach Kailey Kelley has played many seasons on the old field and is ready for the change.

“One thing I’m most excited about is creating pride within the team, and 

having a field the girls will be proud to be on,” Kelley said. 

The field is supposed to be completed in time for the coming softball season in February and will accommodate both Varsity and Junior Varsity. However, the field will not be ready for preseason which starts in January.