Huskers Open Practice in New Facility

The Nebraska softball team held its first practice of the 2012 season on Monday inside the new Haymarket Park Indoor Practice Facility, located beyond the right-field fence of Bowlin Stadium.

The Huskers began day one of what they hope will be a successful season, ending with a long run in the NCAA Tournament. Nebraska returns eight starters from last year's team that posted a 41-14 record, advanced to an NCAA Regional final and finished with a No. 21 national ranking. Included in that group of eight returning starters are six players who have earned an all-conference award in their Husker career, the highest total to begin a season in school history.

Head Coach Rhonda Revelle, entering her 20th season in charge of the Husker program, was encouraged by what she saw on Monday with the first pitch of the 2012 season less than a month away.

"I felt like we picked up right where we left off in the fall, which is really great. It seamed like a seamless transition back into practice," Revelle said. "We worked a lot of fundamentals and execution and had great focus."

While Nebraska was anxious to begin preparations for the new season, the Huskers were also excited to begin full-time use of their new practice facility. The Haymarket Park Indoor Practice Facility was completed last fall at a cost of $4.75 million. After previously practicing inside the Hawks Championship Center, softball now has access to its own facility (shared with the baseball team) located a few steps from the locker room.

"I think overall the complete setup with where our locker room is, where our playing field is and where this facility is, it provides an opportunity for us to maximize our training time and be really efficient," Revelle said. "We can go from a team meeting, to practice and we can split time inside and outside, or we can quickly move inside if it rains. We've always had great facilities, but we've always had to drive and park to get to those facilities because they were so spread out."

In addition to its location, Revelle said the facility's specific design for baseball and softball use was noticeable on Monday.

"Today, after we finished defense, we pulled out the cages and we were off into hitting," she said. "Having double-wide cages is a benefit as well. You can see the ball come off the bat and see its path, where it is headed and if it would have stayed fair or foul. That is valuable to hitters when they're indoors for an extended period of time."

The Haymarket Park Indoor Practice Facility was specifically designed for baseball and softball and has 18,000 square feet of climate-controlled practice space that allows for working on all phases of the game. The space can be configured to utilize as many as six spacious batting cages. The cages can also be retracted to open up all of the 120-foot by 150-foot space for live game simulation. The entire facility is netted, allowing for the Huskers to take live batting practice on a field roughly two-thirds the size of Bowlin Stadium. The surface of the field is FieldTurf, which looks and feels like real grass, and the field includes anchors to lock down bases for use during practice.

With the season opener only 25 days away, Nebraska has also been able to work outside this month. The Huskers hit outside at Bowlin Stadium last week during individudal sessions.

Nebraska opens its 2012 season on Thursday, Feb. 9, against Washington at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe, Ariz.