It seems the wait for Hanover High softball’s new field is finally almost over. At least, progress is being made.
The project Hanover athletic director Mike Jackson and principal Justin Campbell have been working on for more than four years is finally on its way to completion, as the construction crews work to dig up a section of the Dresden Athletic Fields in Norwich to give the Marauders a new home. The hope, Jackson said, is that the field will be ready this fall, before construction must cease due to winter conditions.
“There were a number of assembling blocks that we stumbled with,” Jackson said last week. “I met with (Jon Brush, director of facilities at Frances C. Richmond Middle School who is overseeing logistics of the project) last week. We went out to the site. It should be ready by the fall or, at the very least, when spring season starts the following year from now.”
For some, it can’t come soon enough. Hanover baseball is currently housed on a recently built baseball field at Dresden, and has played there for several seasons. Hanover softball hasn’t enjoyed the same luxury, forcing some in town to start asking questions.
It’s a project that has been on Jackson’s to-do list for some time. Now, it seems like the long-awaited facility is finally in sight.
“There were some community members who were concerned, and rightfully so,” Jackson said. “It’s great that (Norwich Recreation Department) made Huntley Meadows available to us. But compared to the baseball field, it’s a new field and lots of work has been done by the baseball program. Softball hasn’t had that. There was a group concerned about providing the same level of quality. I agreed.”
For Hanover’s softball program, it’s a game-changer. The team currently borrows time to play on Norwich’s Huntley Meadows, a vast expanse of greenery that hosts various outdoor activities during the spring season. During Hanover’s Wednesday afternoon game against Goffstown, Huntley Meadows featured soccer camps and outdoor activities right next to a varsity softball game.
The travel from the high school to the field is hard enough, creating physical barriers between a team and its field. But playing at Huntley Meadows has turned into a sore spot for a varsity team looking for a new direction under first-year head coach Jessica Belley. Having a place to call their own is a giant step forward in creating a new identity.
“We are definitely excited,” Belley said after Wednesday’s game. “We’re excited to have dugouts and no fence that ball rolls under. That will be nice.
“I wouldn’t say it’s become a joke, but it’s definitely something the girls talk about,” Belley added. “Like, ‘Oh, we’re going to sit over here and do this. We won’t have to deal with any of this next year.’ They’re all excited for it. … And I think fans are excited too. We hear them say, ‘You know, you’re going to love the field next year.’ ”
Hanover is 0-3 this season, continuing a long tradition of rebuilding for a program that has seen more bad days than good ones. But Jackson is hopeful that a new field and a new location can revitalize the team.
“Talking about Hanover softball, it hasn’t been a super strong program,” he said. “But in order to help us grab the initiative, we want to build interest and enthusiasm accompanied by enrollment numbers. We want this field to be on the same level as all our other fields.
“We’re hoping a new facility with better quality will increase our enrollment, which will all culminate into success on the field.”
For Belley, a new field will make her job of turning Hanover softball around a whole lot easier.
“A great team can play on any field,” she said. “But it’s a little discouraging sometimes when you don’t have a great field to play on.”
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or at 603-727-3306.