Dedication set for new field Softball player sparks effort

When Wendy Butler and the rest of the Husson College softball team finally get on the school’s new field today, it will be a dream come true – or, at least, a freshman essay come true.

As a first-year student, Butler wrote a paper for a business communications class about how badly the Eagles (then known as the Braves) wanted a better place to play.

The Eagles will officially open the Robert & Frances O’Keefe Softball Complex today with a ceremony at 12:30 p.m. before a doubleheader against Lesley College of Cambridge, Mass. The games, which start at 1, will also serve as the home opener for the Eagles.

It’s something the Husson softball team has been eagerly awaiting this year, especially looking across the campus to the Winkin Complex, a 4-year-old baseball stadium with a FieldTurf artificial surface and seating capacity for more than 3,000.

Butler’s paper – the assignment was an essay about something the students wanted to see happen – has been on her mind lately.

“[The paper was] about how we needed a new field because playing on our field for one season, it was just horrible,” Butler said recently. “I play in the outfield and it was like playing football. I just can’t wait to get out there.”

The field was designed by WBRC Architects of Bangor and built by Maine Earth of Hermon. The first phase has been completed and the second phase, which includes dugouts, a press box, additional seating, and fencing, is scheduled to be finished in 2006.

“Our team is so excited and anxious to get on the new field,” Husson coach Charlie Hamel said. “The O’Keefes have made it possible for us to offer our players a state-of-the-art facility, a field they can be truly proud of.”

Local high school softball teams will also benefit from the new field. John Bapst of Bangor, which has used Husson’s old field in the past, will also practice and play home games on the new field, said Husson athletic director Jonathan “Gabby” Price.

A native of Old Town, Bob O’Keefe graduated from Husson in 1967. He went on to work for Shell Oil, Baxter Steritex Corp., and Angelica Textile Corp. O’Keefe is retired and lives in Gilderland, N.Y., with his wife Frances.