Cal Softball: A New Levine-Fricke is Coming to Strawberry Canyon
A follow up on the Board of Regents' Finance and Capital Strategies Committee vote on an updated Levine-Fricke Field
In the recent Board of Regents of the University of California meeting on November 14th, 2024 in San Francisco (UCSF), UC Berkeley’s Cal Softball Field Renovation Project was approved unanimously by the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee and the UC Board of Regents, as well as receiving approval on the project with the certification of the environmental impact report in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.
The Committee and Board approved the recommendations from the Capital Improvements and the Capital Improvement Program at the University of California, Berkeley, which stated that preliminary plans, working drawings, and construction for Levine-Fricke were approved at $57.95 million. $24,883,000 to be funded from campus funds, gift funds at $3,577,000, and external financing supported by campus funds at $29.49 million.
The confirmed project will provide Cal Softball with “permanent spectator seats and concourse, a press box, competition-grade lights, restrooms, a public address system, expanded playing field dimensions to meet NCAA Division I standards, team locker rooms, improved training facilities, a ticket booth, an entry plaza, and circulation improvements along Centennial Drive (UC Regents Section 3) The project also includes updates to transportation, with improvements to adjacent bus stop and sidewalks and the addition of 40 bike parking spaces and three bike lockers in the main entry plaza.
The project is supposed to be complete by the Spring of 2026, so the recently signed 2025 Class will be the first Freshman class to experience the new home for Cal Softball in Berkeley. Head Coach Chelsea Spencer announced that Cal signed four incoming freshmen as part of her fifth recruiting class with the Golden Bears. Incoming Bears include Jade Diaz from Placentia, Sophie Everett from San Rafael, Nina Peyton-Johnson from Van Nuys, and Mya McGowan from Poway- all reflecting the common trend between Cal Softball and Cal Baseball, where both teams have kept recruiting limited to the Golden State and nowhere else. More on that soon.
A link to the entire “FINANCE AND CAPITAL STRATEGIES COMMITTEE” decisions can be found here.
Glad for Cal softball. But Cal baseball was unfairly “cut” in 2011 by a bias/out of control AD, and only Cal baseball alums “saved” the program by raising 10+ million in 2 months (with a gun to its head) and baseball hads been forced to continue to raise 650,O00 per year (increasing each year) just to support scholarships etc, and now the NIL world is demanding more and more from baseball. Cal baseball (the male counterpart to Cal softball) could certainly use the same or similar investment from the university. The field is in need of many basic improvements to make us competitive in the tough ACC. Cal baseball is over 100 years old. We won the very 1st CWS in 1947 with Jackie Jensen roaming the outfield. We repeated in 57 but have not won since. We were 37-19 last year winning 20 of our last 24 games in the tough PAC12 but the east/south biased “selection committee” refused to grant Cal an “at large” berth: an outrageous example of favoritism in all sports. Now that we are part of the ACC (and therefore supported by ESPN) we should get much better treatment from any “selection committee”, but we must continue to get and keep the best players. We have seen 5 of our players selected in the 1st round of the MLB draft over just the last 5 years. Cal baseball is fantastic, but we have to find the money to keep it that way. Go Bears (‘72,73,74: Cal baseball).
Dang, that’s a lotta dough for softball