HONOLULU – For 35 years, the Chaminade University softball team has carried the moniker, Have Field, Will Travel.
But that scenario changes in 2023.
The Silverswords will make the long-awaited debut of their new playing venue – Silversword Field at Sand Island Park – when they open the season Sunday against Saint Martin's University with first pitch of the doubleheader at 12 p.m.
Located at the very back of Sand Island Recreational Park, about 600 feet past the Maryknoll High School Field, Silversword Field is part of a four-field softball complex, owned by the State of Hawai'i. Chaminade's field is located on the former site where the Maryknoll High School baseball team once played. Click
here for the field location via Google Maps.
Silversword Field gives the team the ability to practice on their home field, a luxury never afforded to them in the past when they played at community venues that needed to be shared with other groups such as high schools and recreation leagues.
"It's our Field of Dreams and we made it become a reality," said
Kent Yamaguchi, who is entering his 18th season as head coach and had been yearning of the team's own field for much of his time. "We would travel from any field and that would allow us to get a practice in."
The discussions of Chaminade having its own field date back to the mid-2010s with suggested areas in various locations around the Honolulu area. One of those included an idea to revitalize an area at Sand Island that had youth baseball backstops years earlier but had been long-abandoned with trees taking over the infield areas. The existing backstops were hardly noticed by the visiting public due to the overgrowth.
In the first 35 years of the program's existence, the softball program has never had a true home. For example, teams have played at community fields such as Koko Head District Park, Cartwright Field in Makiki and Palolo Field, and at different high school surfaces (Kailua, Kaiser, McKinley, Maryknoll Field).
"We were Palolo's team for years," Yamaguchi said about having field practices at Palolo Field at night while casual soccer and rugby games were played around them.
From the early 2000s through 2020, the 'Swords played mostly at the softball complex at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park (also known as CORP Field) in Waipahu, although the fields were subject to usage by other entities who at times displaced the team. Because of the heavy usage from other organizations as well as the 40-mile roundtrip distance from campus to Waipahu, his teams were never able to practice there.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic which struck in March 2020 proved to be their last hurrah at CORP Field and was the blow that sent the team to become the traveling circus again. However, it was at this time that the discussion of refurbishment of the Sand Island complex, spearheaded by the Hawai'i Softball Foundation, ramped up with Chaminade becoming be an anchor tenant.
With state and city facilities still in a gathering restrictive mode in 2021, the Silverswords were granted use of Hawai'i Pacific University's Howard Okita Field, paying rent for eight games there, and had four more at Maryknoll's field in Sand Island while approval of their new field was being finalized. However, construction delays pushed back the anticipated 2022 debut of the field, sending the 'Swords to again split time at HPU and Maryknoll.
But with the delays now behind them, Chaminade can truly now enjoy a home field to call its own.
Unlike their former home at CORP Field, which is also government-controlled, the Silverswords have first right to the main field which faces the Pacific Ocean with a view of Diamond Head beyond the third base dugout.
Over the past few weekends, team members spent parts of practices helping to put the finishing touches on the field including laying new infield cinders, prepping the bullpens and even painting the dugout poles royal blue.
"The team is embracing our new field and giving it the Chaminade touch with the paint and hard work," Yamaguchi said. "It's still a work in progress; however, we finally have a true home."
