Mid-Michigan Dining

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• Ann Arbor, MI 48104
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The backside of the grandstands at Alumni Field in Ann Arbor

My very busy April of shooting baseball/softball continues this weekend in Ann Arbor.  I was actually supposed to shoot baseball yesterday in Ann Arbor, but the weather kept that game from happening. 

This isn’t my first trip to U of M for spring sports.  Right after we moved here last year, I got a call to shoot the very first softball game in the remodeled Alumni Field.  I shot a couple baseball games later in the spring, but this is the first time I’ve been back to Alumni Field since then.

The University of Michigan’s softball team calls Alumni Field home.  The field is part of the larger Wilpon Baseball and Softball complex which is part of the even large sports complex on the Ann Arbor campus.  The softball diamond shares a parking lot with the baseball diamond, Ooseterban Fieldhouse, the UM Indoor Track and Field Building and Yost Ice Arena.  The center field wall butts up to the center field wall of Fisher Stadium. 

The diamond was renovated last year to add a press box, media facilities, indoor batting cages, new restrooms and concessions.  It also updated the seating area which is behind home plate.  The seats are metal bleachers, but the whole design of the stadium makes the field one of the best softball facilities in the nation. 

The view from the third base bleachers at Alumni Field on the campus of U of M

The seating capacity is 1,800 in the permanent grandstands, but they also add 1,000 seats in outfield seating when needed and they needed those and then some during last year’s Super Regional.  The concession stand is on the outside of the building.  It’s not a whole lot and doesn’t offer anything other than the usual suspects.  Right next to the concession stand is a little souvenir shop.  Hungry Howie’s Pizza offers up their pizza in a stand alone cart behind the main grandstand. 

I played baseball growing up and even a few years in college.  I love the sport.  There’s nothing I’d rather do in the summer than take in a baseball game. I’ve never really watched much softball before the inception of the Big Ten Network.  I’ve come to appreciate how different the game is.  Softball is a much more fast paced game which lends itself to a lot of action.  Most detractors of baseball claim the game is too slow.  Softball is just the opposite.  I’ve only been to two Big Ten softball fields, but it would be hard to imagine that anyone has a better set up than Michigan does.  The field is gorgeous and a great recruiting tool for U of M.