Levine-Fricke Field is a

college softball College softball is softball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. College softball is normally played by women at the Intercollegiate level, whereas college baseball is nor ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, on the campus of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. Opened in 1995, it is the home field of the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

of the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

, with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 1,204. Levine-Fricke Field is located in the Strawberry Canyon just east of

California Memorial Stadium California Memorial Stadium, also known simply and commonly as Memorial Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium located on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, California, United States. It is the home field for th ...

and Witter Rugby Field.

History

The California softball program opened Levine-Fricke Field in 1995 after playing at Hearst Field (now the Hearst Field Annex) and Strawberry Field (now Witter Rugby Field) and has seen a great deal of success since the facility opened. Since 1995, California has won a national championship (2002), a conference championship (2005), made nine

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States and is held annually in Oklahoma City, OK. The event is held at Devon Park (stadium), Devon Park loca ...

appearances, and has made the NCAA tournament every year since then. Since the 2000 season, Levine-Fricke Field has seen an average attendance figure of around 300 (around 47,000 total over a span of around 160 games) with the largest single game attendance figure of 1,069 (88.8% capacity) recorded on April 29, 2012 in a game against UCLA (the previous record was 969, which was set in a game against Arizona in 2004). The 2004 season saw Cal softball's best single season attendance average of around 400 (80% capacity); however, it is likely that once the 2012 season ends, it will surpass the 2002 season (2012 average as of April 29 is around 440). California generally sees its largest crowds for their Saturday and Sunday games because all games (both weekday and weekend) are played during the day with first pitch usually scheduled between 12:00p and 3:00p Pacific Time. The facility opened in 1995 and originally had a capacity of 500 seats and about 600-700 with standing room only. Despite being a fairly new stadium, Levine-Fricke Field does not have lights to support night softball games and up until the opening of the Simpson Center in 2011, the softball program's locker rooms and training facilities were woefully out of date. Other than the addition of the Simpson Center near Memorial Stadium, Levine-Fricke Field itself has also seen some changes in 2012: the athletic department on April 11, 2012 announced that it had added 704 new bleacher seats to the stadium, which more than doubled its capacity, bringing it up to 1,204 from just 500. On May 13, 2012, it was announced that Levine-Fricke Field would host postseason action for the first time in the venue's history. To bring the stadium up to NCAA standards, California brought in a temporary press box structure and temporary lights to accommodate night games and large television crews.

Future

Despite the fact that the California softball program has been one of the more successful programs in the country, and earning a national seed on many different occasions in the past, the Bears hosted NCAA tournament games in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

for the first time since the 1993 season (the team then played at Strawberry Field).http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/cal/sports/w-softbl/auto_pdf/2011-12/misc_non_event/2012SoftballRecordBook.pdf The main reason for this, is that Levine-Fricke Field is not considered up to NCAA standards because of its inability to host television crews and have night games. To remedy this problem in 2012, California brought in temporary upgrades to the facility for the Berkeley Regional and Super Regional. Because of the new

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N), sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks, was an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities were headquartere ...

, it is quite possible that California will have a more permanent solution to many of the venue's problems in the near future.

References

External links

{{Atlantic Coast Conference softball venue navbox 1995 establishments in California Softball venues in California California Golden Bears sports venues California Golden Bears softball Sports venues completed in 1995