Pro softball is coming to our area as the Coastal Bend Tidal Wave prepare for their inaugural season.
They will play home games in Robstown and compete in the Women's Professional Fastpitch league. The team said the community is stepping up to help convert their stadium in time for the first pitch later this month.
"We're just getting ready to start this week, and so, it's all hands on deck trying to get everything ready for the season to start," Tidal Wave Head Coach Blake Miller said.
The Tidal Wave will play their games at Fairgrounds Field. Once known as Aviators Stadium, it sits next to the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds.
Miller said hundreds of people helped over the last couple weeks to convert it from a baseball field to a softball field.
"Making it safe, I mean, that's the first big thing is get it playable, but make it safe and make sure all our leaks and our watering and all that are done," Miller said.
Miller said the field was abandoned for years. After getting the green light from the Nueces County Commissioners Court to play there, he said the team and community got to work. Turf was laid on the old baseball infield and attention will now turn beyond the field.
"The next two weeks are really the big part as they get the rest of the stadium ready, cause the field's ready," Miller said.
17 players will be on the roster, including one from Corpus Christi and another from the Valley. Miller said players are coming from the Pac-12, Southeastern Conference and other softball programs.
As Calallen High School Softball comes off a back-to-back state title, Miller said a local pro team will show the next generation of women what new opportunities exist in the sport.
"To get this in front of the young women to say, 'Oh, I can play pro ball,' just makes it so much fun, and they'll be in the community," Miller said.
Miller said some people are helping at the field often and expressing their excitement for the team's season to start. The home opener is scheduled for June 27.
Fairgrounds Field will also host WPF playoff games at the end of the season.