Bellevue softball complex opens

Outfielders chattered encouraging words to their pitchers. Coaches stood along third base lines pantomiming signals to their batters. In the stands, parents and grandparents noshed on hot dogs and hollered at the umps.

For anyone who wasn't aware of the three years of fits and starts, setbacks and compromises, and days when it looked like Bellevue's Cat Osterman Experience softball complex would never get off the ground, it was just another day at the park.

But for the investors, city officials and local girls softball supporters who had kept their eyes on the prize of a one-of-a-kind softball facility in Bellevue, this weekend's opening of the six-field complex south of Offutt Air Force Base was something else entirely.

“This is a dream come true,” Vince Stephens, founder of the Bellevue Shockers softball club, told a crowd of about 200 people at an opening ceremony Friday. “I'll be crying all night. I don't know how I'm going to coach a game.”

Stephens, Bellevue Mayor Gary Mixan and Tim Law, operations manager for the complex, each spoke of the commitment of Utah-based investors World Baseball Village, Bellevue elected officials and city staff, local investors and the community in making the park a reality.

After the ceremonial thank-yous, it was time to play ball. The first 12 squads in a 58-team, weekend-long tournament took to the fields, and the age of softball had arrived in Bellevue.

The facility is the city's first foray into a public-private development project. Bellevue issued almost $4.5 million in bonds to finance the land purchase and construction. World Baseball Village will manage the facility and make the annual bond payments. After 20 years, ownership of the facility will be transferred to the city.

Cat Osterman, a former Texas All-American, softball Olympian and one of the world's top players, was recruited to be the face of the project. She owns no part of it, but she'll be involved in marketing.

City Administrator Gary Troutman said getting the bond issue passed was the tricky part. It involved a number of different incarnations for the design of the park and agreements on how the financing and management would work. Once the details were ironed out, the City Council approved the bonds early last November, and construction started to move forward.

Then winter came. Snow and sub-zero temperatures slowed construction, Law said. He added that the work done by crews in the last three weeks to get the fields game-ready had been incredible. Specifically, Law said, local businessman Dave Compton, an early advocate for the park and one of the first Bellevue investors, put in countless hours keeping the project going with the goal of being ready for the weekend tournament.

Though there is still work going on at the complex the concession building and dormitories for weeklong “stay 'n play” tournaments scheduled to begin in June are still under construction the fields, known as the “Hall of Fame Fields,” are booked for tournaments every weekend for the next two months.

Speaking to the crowd at the Friday ceremony, Compton said the best was yet to come.

“This is a very special day,” he said. “I think Bellevue's got a facility to be very proud of.”

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