Stanford softball chases attendance record at school’s football stadium

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Allie Clements ducked through the low gate, scooted up a short stairway and took a seat in her regular spot for Stanford football games, then glanced out at the softball field where she is playing home games in her senior season.

The veteran catcher can hardly believe it herself sometimes.

Playing softball in a football stadium, it certainly took some creativity by the athletic department to make it happen. It’s enabling players such as Clements to play games on campus in their final year while the team’s ballpark receives a $50 million renovation nearby.

“I haven’t missed a football game since I’ve attended Stanford that’s at home, and it’s been just such an amazing experience to walk out onto the field every day and see, ‘Oh, this is the place I’ve sat in for four years but now I get to experience playing on the field,’” Clements said. “We’re so grateful that the university did all this for us.”

And on Saturday with rival California in town, Stanford will try to set the NCAA attendance record, something coach Jessica Allister knows wouldn’t even be a possibility if her team wasn’t playing in the football stadium.

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“It’s awesome, it’s fantastic,” said Allister, a former catcher in her eighth season coaching her alma mater. “It’s gone from being a solution that would work to being a really, really, really cool experience. One of our alumni that I saw in the winter, she said, ‘You know, I think the sophomores and the juniors got the best of it all — they got to play in the old stadium, they’re getting to play in the football stadium and they’re going to play in the new stadium.’ She said, ‘And what an opportunity to be able to experience all three.’ I think she’s right. I don’t know that there will be another time that we play softball in a football stadium.”

The NCAA record crowd of 12,566 attended the first day of the 2024 Women’s College World Series last May 30. The regular-season record is held by Oklahoma, which drew 8,930 against Texas on March 31, 2023.

Stanford had sold more than 11,100 tickets as of late Thursday.

“I think the fact that it’s against Cal is also a big driver for everything because it’s a good way to incorporate a lot of the Bay Area since it’s pretty divided,” Clements said. “I think we’re going to have a little bigger support, but that’s the home team bias. It’s sort of surreal because from my freshman year to now we’ve played in Alabama where it’s 3,000 fans, we’ve played in Oklahoma City where it’s 10,000, 12,000 fans coming to these games. To feel that at home is just going to be so cool.”

This setup has provided not only a unique backdrop for the student-athletes but also for fans who suddenly have more opportunities to attend games in a larger venue — not to mention concessions and bathrooms in the concourse because they haven’t been so close by before. That improved fan experience matters so much to Allister.

The football stadium has worked for softball “beyond my wildest dreams,” she said. “It just feels like a big softball stadium.”

And this sure beats spending an entire season on the road as could have been an option had athletic officials not thought of this outside-the-box idea.

Visiting teams are loving it, too, with players snapping selfies on the diamond with the picturesque stadium features in the background.

“We are to the point where it doesn’t feel like we’re in a football stadium anymore, it just feels like it’s home, and every time a new team shows up we get to see it through their eyes again,” Allister said. “And every time they walk in they’re just in awe, so it’s been pretty special.”

Clements’ parents, Scott and Rose, travel in from Texas for her home games given it’s their daughter’s final year on The Farm. And just so happens they sit in nearly the same exact seat as where their daughter had her football seats.

Initially when Scott Clements heard about Stanford playing in the football stadium, he was skeptical — and also disappointed his daughter wouldn’t have a chance to compete in the new ballpark.

“However, I made the trip up to see when they hosted season ticket-holders before the season and what a surprise it was. In fact, I just couldn’t wrap my head around how they would make it work, and disappointed Allie would play her senior season on a makeshift field,” he said. “The athletic department gets a gold star spending the money and planning to pull this off. They did an unbelievable job transforming the stadium. It has made it really a cool experience and very nice venue. With it tucked in the corner it seems like a perfect softball stadium.”

Junior second baseman Taryn Kern realizes how fortunate she is to be able to play in all three stadiums, with the new one set to be completed late this year and open for the 2026 campaign.

“It’s a surreal feeling, and the fact they made this all happen it’s just incredible,” Kern said. “So grateful to be a part of it.”

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports