Caswell Park in North Mankato is set to become the epicenter of Minnesota high school softball starting Wednesday as the softball state tournament gets underway, but the park's days as the primary venue for the tournament could be numbered due to a push to move the tournament to the Twin Cities.
Back in early May, WCCO Radio's Vineeta Sawkar interviewed Farmington softball coach Paul Harrington about a proposal to move the championship rounds of the softball state tournament from North Mankato to Jane Sage Cowles Stadium on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus.
"It's all about the girls," Harrington told WCCO Radio's Vineeta Sawkar on Thursday morning. "It's not about Mankato."
The high school state softball tournament is a point of pride for the North Mankato community and mayor Scott Carlson. In fact, Caswell Park has undergone a $3 million transformation in recent years.
"That's between scoreboards, netting, and new chain link fences," Carlson said. "It just goes on and on."
Through money generated by a local options sales tax and state bonding money for upgrades, Carlson says several great things have gotten done at the facility.
"We've been fortunate to have the tournament in North Mankato for over 30 years," he said. "[Caswell Park] is a fantastic facility envisioned by people well before my time. It's been tremendous asset to the community, it brings a ton of revenue through restaurants and hotels. It also brings a great vibe to the community."
Carlson, who saw both of his daughters win state softball championships at Caswell Park, says he's been to most of the big softball field in the state.
"There's obviously some fantastic fields all over the state," he said. "I think most people would concur that Caswell with its enclosed facility, the rooftops for college coaches and officials, that there isn't really anything like this in Minnesota, other than us. I'm not saying our six fields or scoreboards are way better, but the overall experience, the six fields in one area, there isn't really anybody that can match everything."
Harrington said back in May that a potential venue change as a way to generate more interest in the state softball tournament. He pointed out that of the championship sites used by the Minnesota State High School League include Target Center, Target Field, Williams Arena, U.S. Bank Stadium, and Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
"We just think the TV coverage, if it came up here, would be great for our sport and just grow our sport," Harrington said. "We're just not doing that for 15 years now. Baseball did it, and we haven't responded like they have."
Carlson says he understands the push to make the tournament exeperience more fair and equitable for student-athletes.
"I do believe with some dialogue and conversation, there's local investors and money in our area to say we really want to keep this and make this what a majority of people would like to see it be."
One change coming to this year's state softball tournament is that the tournament will take place over the course of three days instead of two.
"I'm glad people are speaking up," added Carlson. "I'd like to talk with and get together any of those people who are speaking up when they're down here for the tournament. I do have my staff trying to schedule meetings with state officials to start some dialogue and take some notes to see what we can do."
In the end, Carlson hopes to see a commitment from the Minnesota State High School League when it comes to keeping the tournament solely in North Mankato.
"We've invested $3 million already and if we're going to invest even more to get a dedicated stadium over the course of so many years. We could do a five year contract, but it might be nice to see a commitment past that from the state so our money invested in North Mankato is money well spent and will go towards the state tournament for years to come."