Friday, July 30, 1999

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
Mounds of dirt and gravel are piled all over the field as work
on the field and under the bleachers of the Wahine
softball stadium continues.

The extra work to the Wahine
softball stadium will add
$28,000 to the bill

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Landscaping corrections to the Wahine softball field will raise the cost of fixing problems with the facility and delay completion.

Leveling an unacceptable slope in the outfield will add $28,000 to the current repair bill of $612,507, according to the state Department of Accounting and General Services.

The money will come from a $79,321 contingency fund set aside for the stadium project.

The extra work will push the projected completion date for repairs from Sept. 17 to Sept 30, according to DAGS comptroller Raymond Sato in a written answer to questions submitted by the Star-Bulletin.

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'When they redesigned it,
they put in this fairly sophisticated
drainage system.'

Jim Manke
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
VICE PRESIDENT FOR
UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

The stadium was originally built last year at a cost of $1.2 million.

A major redesign project began last spring due in large part to the fact that spectators could not see home plate. But drainage and other problems with the facility were also to be addressed.

Jim Manke, vice-president for university relations, said a professional sports grounds consultant brought in to advise the school about the soccer-football grass field also inspected the softball field. Manke said the consultant observed that the current slope of the outfield should be reduced from 2 to 1 percent.

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin

"So it was agreed to add some fill material," said Manke.

"This is basically to accommodate the drainage system. Drainage has been a problem in the past. All the water was accumulating down by home plate and the third base dugout. It was a real mess. When they redesigned it, they put in this fairly sophisticated drainage system and to help it along with gravity, they built in a slope to the outfield."

Sato said that after the redesign project is completed, all seats in the stadium "will have full visibility of the playing field within the baseline and home plate"

By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin

He said the only spectator drawback will be seats "partially obstructed by structural columns which are supporting the roof structure in the center section of the facility."

Stadium architect Bryce Uyehara is paying $326,000 to correct mistakes his firm made in designing the seating.

Manke said the project to improve spectators' view from the stands represents 56 percent of the total ongoing repair work at the stadium. The remainder of the work involves the drainage system, moving the press box out two feet and dugout modifications.

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