Photo courtesy of Choccolocco Park
Choccolocco Park's Signature Field, designed specifically for softball.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association state softball tournament has a new home.
On Wednesday, the AHSAA Central Board approved the move of the state tournament to Choccolocco Park in Oxford, one of the premier softball facilities in the state. The tournament will be held at Choccolocco Park for at least the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
The tournament will be held May 18-22 this spring. The East Central Regional originally slated to be played at Choccolocco will now be played in Montgomery.
The tournament moves from Montgomery’s Lagoon Park to the city of Oxford for the first time since 2017, when the Class 5A state championship game was held at Choccolocco’s Signature Field.
“We’re very thankful to the city of Oxford, Mayor Alton Craft and their entire recreation staff for allowing us the opportunity to provide this wonderful facility for our students,” AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said. “We’re also very grateful to Montgomery for being such a wonderful host for all these years.”
The move to Oxford will allow the state tournament finals in all seven AHSAA classifications to be held at Signature Field, a stadium designed specifically for softball.
The high school baseball finals have recently been played at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, and the objective was to give the state’s softball player an opportunity to play in a similar environment where the championship games have a distinct prestige to them.
“Moving our championship series to Oxford will allow us to provide a championship facility similar to what our boys play in, and that was our number one goal,” Savarese said.
The state softball tournament has been held at Lagoon Park since its inception in 1986, and the sport has grown rapidly in recent years. Savarese cited the transition from slowpitch to fastpitch as one of the indicators of the sport’s ascension and mentioned his excitement for all parties.
“It’s a win-win for everyone involved,” he said.
Savarese also expressed gratitude to the city of Montgomery for working with the AHSAA during this process.
"The kids are the benefactors," he said.
