Since Dave Blank, director of athletics, took the reins, Elon University has hired new head coaches for half of its teams and built two new buildings, while four others facilities have been renovated.

This was all in six years, and another new athletic site is on the way.

"We're trying to get all the facilities as advanced as possible," Blank said. "There was not enough attention to the softball field in recent years, so this was one of our top priorities."

In late October, Elon Athletics received a lead gift of $500,000 from board of trustee Vicky Hunt and her husband, Sam, to kick off the funding for the new softball stadium. In recognition, the stadium will be named Hunt Softball Park.

The rest of this semester will involve more fundraising, and then construction will begin in three phases.

The first phase will include the actual field, the dugouts, a scoreboard, a press box and stadium seating and lighting.

"Everything that you would need to play softball will be put in phase one," Blank said. From there, a clubhouse with locker rooms, more seating, a reception area and a concession stand will be added in subsequent phases.

But right now, all that is tangible is a parking lot.

"Once that ground breaks, it'll be reality," interim head coach Kathy Bocock said. "But even now, there's nothing but excitement."

The new softball field will be located across Williamson Avenue from the baseball stadium on North Campus.

This proximity to the baseball stadium will be beneficial for both the players and fans, Bocock said. When both teams have games staggeredon the same day, fans can walk from one stadium to another and catch all the action.

"Softball and baseball go hand-in-hand," Bocock said. "This will add a lot more of that by putting it together."

The new stadium will also help with recruiting, she said, bringing in a new level of talent that is associated with nicer facilities.

"Elon is such a great place to be that we get a lot of ladies interested in coming up here," Bocock said. "This new stadium will draw even better ability than we already get. It'll push us up to the next level."

Recruiting can oftentimes bring Elon into competition with bigger ACC and SEC schools, and with facilities more fitting of a Division I school, the Phoenix will have more leverage, she said.

"We're going to be as good, if not better, than those guys, in terms of facilities," Bocock said.

This new softball complex is only one part of what Elon Athletics has been doing across the board, including building Alumni Field House and renovating Alumni Gym and Latham Park.

"They are all parts of the plan," Blank said. "It's just a matter of how to fund them. Some come sooner than others."

Construction will begin on this project in spring 2012 and the projected finish is spring 2013. That means this season will be the last for the softball team on its old field in East Campus.

And when the final game is played in May, Elon Athletics will close yet another chapter in its book as it faces change once more.