The brand new home for Mountlake Terrace Hawks’ fastpitch softball hosts its first game on Friday, and this year’s team may have already pitched a special name for their new digs.

“It’s our field, we call ourselves the flock, so I think this is more of our nest,” said senior Ellie Gilbert.

While time will tell if “The Nest” has any longevity, having a new softball facility left an indelible impression the first time Gilbert and her Hawk teammates took to the field for preseason practices a couple of weeks ago.

“I was super excited to be able to play on this field,” Gilbert said. “It’s so much nicer than I thought we would ever get. I’m so excited to have the new season here and I’m glad that we don’t have to take care of the field ourselves anymore or that we will have to get rained out as often.”

The new softball facility is part of a $6.2 million project that replaces the old softball field and upgrades the adjacent soccer pitch on the east side of the Mountlake Terrace High School campus. Construction of the project began last September. Finishing touches to the softball field are taking place this week while work will continue on the soccer field until completion later this spring.

Funds collected from the voter-approved 2020 Edmonds School District levy paid for the upgrades.

Eager to see the transformation, Gilbert kept a sharp Hawk’s eye on construction of the new facility as the school year progressed. “My English class is over here so every day I would come over and I would look around,” she said. “It was nice to watch them build it.”

The new softball field is a far cry from the dirt and grass field that Hawk softball teams have been playing on at the school for decades. The new playing surface is artifical turf with cork and sand infill. New permanent fencing encloses the entire facility and new lighting will allow for home games to continue after sunset — a first for Terrace softball home games.

Hawk players and coaches have been calling for improvements to the softball field for years, as the previous grass surface had become quite rutted and uneven.

“It was torn up; it was pretty torn up,” Gilbert said. “There were holes everywhere. I hurt my knee really bad last year; I got really hurt because of it. So this was very exciting, to get a new field.”

“Our old field, nobody took care of it,” Gilbert added. “So it was nice to get a new one.”

Having a softball field with a synthetic surface that can absorb and drain away rainwater may be the biggest game changer for Terrace softball coach Shannon Rasmussen. “We get to actually practice outside almost every day,” she said with glee.

In past years, Rasmussen would have to bring her squad inside the school’s auxiliary gymnasium for practices when puddles collected in the dirt infield and the outfield grass became saturated. Due to its poor drainage, games on the old field would often need to be postponed and rescheduled, even with light rainfall.

Rasmussen, now in her 12th season at the helm of Terrace fastpitch softball, believes the new facility’s synthetic turf surface will also help her teams be better prepared when playing road games and postseason contests.

“Now we get to practice on turf and so many of our games are on turf,” Rasmussen noted. “When you get into Districts (the postseason District 1 tournament), that’s on turf; when you get into State (the WIAA state tournament), that’s on turf. So it kind of lets us know a little bit more about taking the bounces and hops; it’s a little different than playing on dirt.”

Terrace has nine home contests on the 2024 schedule and they are all scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. — two-and-a-half hours later than games the school has hosted in previous seasons. With the later start times, many of this season’s games are expected to finish under the bright lights of the new complex — and are helping to spark a new enthusiasm for Hawk softball.

“I think it just brings a little more excitement and a little bit more pizazz to our games,” Rasmussen said. “I know we’re excited to get out there and play on the new field.”

Mountlake Terrace Hawks fastpitch softball 2024 home schedule

Friday, March 15 – vs. Ballard, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 21 – vs. Kamiak, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 28 – vs. Everett, 6:30 p.m.

Monday, April 1 – vs. Cascade, 6:30 p.m.

Monday, April 8 – vs. Snohomish, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 23 – vs. Edmonds-Woodway, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, April 25 – vs. Marysville-Getchell, 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday. May 1 – vs. Shorewood, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, May 7 – vs. Shorecrest, 6:30 p.m.

— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski