Firestone Stadium is a softball stadium in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

, United States. The stadium was dedicated on July 25, 1925, by

Harvey S. Firestone Harvey Samuel Firestone (December 20, 1868 – February 7, 1938) was an American businessman, and the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires. Family background Firestone was born o ...

, the founder of the

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled ...

. It was owned and operated by the Firestone company until it was donated to the City of Akron in 1988. It has a seating capacity of 4,576. From 1999 to 2017, it served as the home of the

Akron Racers The Akron Racers were a women's softball team based in Akron, Ohio. They have moved to Cleveland and been renamed the Cleveland Comets in 2018. The team was started by Joey Arietta in 1999 to participate in the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL). ...

of the

National Pro Fastpitch National Pro Fastpitch (NPF), formerly the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL), was a professional women's softball league in the United States. The teams battled for the Cowles Cup. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001; the NPF revive ...

softball league. The stadium was also the site of the annual

Mid-American Conference softball tournament The Mid-American Conference softball tournament is the conference softball championship of the Mid-American Conference, a Division I member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The top four finishers participate in the double- ...

from 2002 to 2005 and again from 2008 through 2019. It was scheduled to host the 2020 tournament, but the tournament was canceled in March 2020 because of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. Subsequently, in May 2020 the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

announced that the softball tournament was one of eight conference tournaments that were eliminated for at least the next four seasons beginning in 2020–21. Since 2009, Firestone Stadium has hosted the semifinals and finals of the

Ohio High School Athletic Association The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of compe ...

(OHSAA) state softball tournament. The championship rounds include all four divisions of OHSAA softball, with 12 games played in three days in late May or early June. It was scheduled to again host the championship rounds June 4–6, 2020, but the tournament was cancelled in late April along with all other spring sports seasons and tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic.

References

External links

Softball venues in the United States Baseball venues in Ohio Sports venues in Akron, Ohio Sports venues completed in 1925 1925 establishments in Ohio Tourist attractions in Akron, Ohio {{Ohio-baseball-venue-stub