Hanover — Hanover High’s varsity softball facility at the Dresden Athletic Fields in Norwich will be barely two years old when the Marauders trade in basketball shoes for gloves and bats this spring. Mariruth Graham will be in her second season at the helm, trying to rebuild a program that hasn’t had a winning record since 2003. The new facility was designed to give the program a boost.

Now, the Hanover Parks and Recreation department is doing its part to give a similar lift to potential future Marauders by finishing renovations last week to the softball facility at Richmond Middle School.

Bri Barnes, the department’s athletics program manager and former Oxbow High athletic director, said the process took about four days to complete, but declined to share the cost of the improvements.

The hope, Parks and Recreation assistant director and youth softball coach Liz Burdette said, is that the new facility will help keep young athletes interested in the sport while they develop enough skill to eventually help the high school team find victories.

“Our goal at the parks and recreation level is to instill a love of the sport,” Burdette, who has coached youth softball with the department for 10 years, said last week. “We want to build basic skills. Hopefully, we can do enough to provide that for the high school program. We hope (the facility improvements) are a boost for all of the programs.”

A boost is what Hanover High softball has been lacking. Graham, am area Realtor, inherited a program that is 16-93 since 2011 and has made the postseason only once (2015) in 15 seasons. The program’s only state title came in 1983.

Barnes said the biggest improvement made to the middle school field was to fix a drainage issue down the third base line, a persistent problem that Burdette said made it difficult to practice. Hanover Parks and Recreation also smoothed out the edges between the infield dirt and outfield grass that made ground ball play unpredictable, built up the mound with clay and conditioner and added three inches to the diamond.

Barnes also said that the improvements were the first ever made to Richmond’s softball facility, according to department records.

“There were a lot of drainage issues,” Burdette said. “Water would always pool on the third base line, between home and third base would be a giant puddle. Having use of the whole field, it’s a great morale booster. It shows that the field is valued and the program is valued. I can’t wait to have the girls see it.”

Youth softball in Hanover has consistently had about 18 athletes on its junior high softball team, comprising of seventh and eighth graders. Last spring, the department had 14 athletes on the fourth- through sixth-grade team.

“The numbers are growing at the youth level, which is awesome,” Barnes said. “Improving the field, it first helps prevent injuries. For the teams coming in, it provides a better surface and a better feeling for the kids that are playing. … It’s nice for the eighth-graders to have a nice field in middle school.”

Barnes also said the facility, mainly used by Hanover’s youth softball program, may be used for adult slow-pitch or modified softball next spring after Lebanon’s Elks Field was taken over in an expansion of Dartmouth Coach’s new headquarters.

“I think the biggest thing for me is it will help me instill confidence in the girls,” Burdette said. “The more predictability the ball has on the field, the better all around.”

Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.