Imagine it’s April 2004. It’s a bright sunny day as the SF State softball team plays a home game on campus at their new field located on Font Boulevard on a property called Lot 41. The new scoreboard on the field shows that the Gators have just completed another sweep of a division rival, and the fans sitting in the new bleachers are going wild. All of this just may come true.

Price? $19 million, paid in full.

This sum sound like a lot? It is. SF State is currently in a budget crisis of $11 million to $14 million. At the same time, the university is involved in litigation concerning the renovation of Hensill Hall for an additional $15 million.

With many classes being cut, and fees for students going up, many people are upset that SF State spent $19 million on a new softball field when the team already had one.

“If only a few students would benefit from the softball field, it seems appropriate that the money should be spent on something that all students could benefit from,” said Janet Newman, an English professor.

SF State student and English major Lydia Sears, 22, agreed with the option of letting more people benefit from the money.

“I would like them to use this money to offer more General Education classes since a lot of these classes are being cut, making it more difficult for people to graduate on time,” Sears said. “Also there seems to be more students than teachers, so to fix that problem they could hire more teachers with the money.”

Due to poor drainage problems on the old Stephenson softball field and renovations being made to Hensill Hall, the softball team was forced to play their home games at Mission Blue Park in Brisbane for the past two years. Due to the hassles of having the team make a 40 minute round trip for practice and home games, SF State bought Lot 41 from Park Merced for $19 million on May 22, 2003.

For a team that has struggled for years and finished 25-33 in 2003, this is a blessing. The new field is closer to home, which takes away from travel time and enables the players to coordinate their school schedules better as they can now have classes as late as 1 p.m.

“It finally feels as if we are a SF State softball team and not some Brisbane team where nobody knows where we are,” junior first baseman Nicole Ramirez said. “It’s great because our fans can come watch us play more easily than before.”

Steve Evans, a kinesiology professor at SF State, thinks the new softball field was a good idea since the softball team could use it to attract more recruits to the program.

“It’s very difficult to develop a University sports program if you don’t have facilities on campus,” Evans said.

SF State softball coach Kristi Lansford agreed that the new field is a major plus.

“I love it because I only have to walk to the field about ten minutes before practice as opposed to driving 30 minutes before practice starts,” Lansford said. “When it’s all said and done it’s going to be a really nice field.”

However, all is not said and done yet, as the field is far from finished. Though the players have been practicing on the field and have played six games there (their home record is 6-4), everything outside the foul lines looks like a work in progress. New fencing is just being put in, and there are no new bleachers, scoreboard, or a batting cage, which were all promised originally.

But why build a new field on Font Boulevard when the university had one near 19th Avenue?

On April 5, 2000, it was decided that Hensill Hall, which looms tall just south of the old Stephenson Field, had to be renovated due to mold problems and asbestos. SF State's insurance provider, American Mutual Insurance, issued a $15,080,000 bond for the renovations. SF State then signed a contract with Pacific Engineering Builders Inc. (PEBI) for a project titled Hensill Hall Renovation. The work on the project started on May 15, 2000.

PEBI would hire many subcontractors, including Oakland-based Alarcon Bohm construction, to work on the project. For almost two years, their work would have nothing to do with the softball team as the Gators continued to play on Stephenson Field. But in January 2002, that all changed.

In January 2002, portable classrooms were put on Stephenson field in place of the ones that couldn’t be used in Hensill Hall. SF State Athletic Director Dr. Mike Simpson informed Lansford that her team would be playing a month in Brisbane. One month would later become two years. The news about the move was tough but Simpson said it was the only option.

“When you stood back and looked at it, the move made sense. Hensill Hall was right there and it didn’t make sense to alter a whole department rather than the softball team. We hated doing it, but it wasn’t like the only time a team played off-campus. And we knew the move was only temporary,” Simpson said.

When this news came up it brought up questions of Title Nine infractions (infractions that involve gender equality) and many players wore T-shirts that said “homeless.” Meanwhile, renovations on Hensill Hall were not going to plan according to SF State.

According to the case documents in BOHM Environmental vs Pacific Engineering Building Inc, the CSU terminated PEBI pm April 8, 2002. Later it was cited that PEBI was terminated due to numerous reasons, including its failure to manage its work under the contract and failing to perform and supervise work under the contract. Pacific Engineering Builders Inc. refused to comment on the issue.

The subcontractor Bohm continued to work until March 5, 2003. Bohm did not get forwarded a stop notice from the CSU until March 27, 2003. This means that Bohm worked for almost a year after Pacific Engineering was terminated from its contract. During this time in spring 2003, talks were heating up about SF State purchasing land from Park Merced to build a new softball field.

According to Dave McCormick, on May 22, 2003 the land was bought for $19 million. Of the $19 million, $3.5 million came from bonds and $15.5 million came from a mold residential settlement. The $19 million package includes the new softball field, the tennis and basketball courts surrounding it, 16-unit residential garden apartments, and a parking garage.

The field, which had previously been home to some old park and recreational softball teams and Park Merced residents to play on, would now only be allowed by the SF State softball team to use.

According to Athletic Director Mike Simpson, the university had been trying to buy the land for years. A renters group named Professional Renters Organization was upset about the decision as they argued they had been trying to buy the land for years, so why should the state be awarded it? Park Merced refused comment on the issue.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 15, 2003, Bohm filed suit against Pacific Engineering and SF State for breach of contract and lack of monies due. Pacific Engineering Builders Inc. and the American Mutual Insurance then cross-complained on Jan. 26, 2004 and brought suit against SF State. The suit involved many isssues including breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, and defamation. The lawyers for SF State refused comment on the issue.

Pacific also cross-complained and filed a suit against all of its subcontractors including BOHM and SF State biology Professor Thomas Parker, who has his office in Hensill Hall. Parker had no comment on the issue.

Botham Construction then began work on the new softball field in September 2003 and by Thanksgiving weekend of the same year the contracted construction was completed. The softball team’s first home game was played on Feb. 8, 2004 in which it lost by a score of 5-4. Earlier that week on Feb. 4, the motion was heard in court for the suits and on Feb. 13, the parties showed up in San Francisco Superior Court for the first time.

So while SF State’s softball team starts a new chapter so does Hensill Hall and the litigation surrounding it. Though it is unclear at the time who will be winners and who will be losers in this case, the fact remains that Stephenson Field is gone for good, though a scoreboard still overlooks the portable classrooms in the area of Hensill Hall. Whether or not those classrooms will be removed and replaced by something else is still up in the air.

If it is replaced, it sure won't be by a softball field. You can bet $19 million on that.