Aug. 22, 2010
By Jon Cooper
Sting Daily
They say that when it rains it pours.
While rain never rates too high on the list of favorite things for Georgia Tech softball coach Sharon Perkins, the kind of rain that currently is falling around her and her softball program might be enough to make the fifth-year head coach want to go out and try to replicate Gene Kelly’s famous dance number from the 1952 movie classic, “Singin’ in the Rain.”
The latest deluge for the team, which will soon begin Fall Practice, is a brand new locker room and team building, which is currently in the works and should be ready for use when the two-time defending ACC champions take the field for its 2011 season opener.
Once completed, the 6,500 square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, will sit adjacent to Mewborn Field’s indoor batting cages and include such amenities as new, more spacious locker rooms for the team, a video room, a meeting room, a team lounge, a training- and equipment-storage room and a satellite office and locker room for the coaching staff.
“This is a great addition to one of the top softball stadiums in the country,” said Perkins, the 2009 and ’10 ACC Coach of the Year whose teams have won 183 of 256 games in her four seasons (a .715 winning percentage) and have hosted an NCAA Tournament Super Regional and Regional over the last two years. “The new team building gives our student-athletes a tremendous facility for day-to-day use. Whether it’s watching video, studying or preparing for competition, we now have an on-site facility to help in all aspects of our program.”
The design firm of Rosser International of Atlanta and Barton Mallow Construction were hired to create the new facility. It’s a winning combination, as they teamed up to build Mewborn Field, which was named 2009 Best Small Project by Southeast Construction Magazine.
Perkins hailed the school’s athletic administration for its continuing pursuit of athletic excellence.
“It’s a credit to the vision of [Director of Athletics] Dan Radakovich, [Associate Director of Athletics] Theresa Wenzel and the entire Georgia Tech administration to not only our sport, but all sports here,” she said.
