Robert E. Taylor Stadium is a softball stadium located in
College Park,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
on the campus of the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
. The stadium broke ground in 2001 and opened in April 2002.
History
The softball team at the University of Maryland had been playing at an off campus softball complex ever since the programs inception in 1995. A new on-campus stadium and complex was in high demand to reward the young softball program which had risen to 12th in the national softball rankings in just its third season.
Maryland Athletics – University of Maryland Official Athletic Site – Softball
/ref> Ground was broken in August 2001 to begin construction on the softball stadium. The construction coincided with the construction of the Comcast Center
Comcast Center, also known as the Comcast Tower, is a skyscraper in Center City, Philadelphia. The 58-story, tower is the second-tallest building in Philadelphia and in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania (after the Comcast Technology Center), a ...
(now the Xfinity Center), the new arena for the men and women's basketball programs, which had begun construction a year earlier and was being built right next to the softball complex.
Robert E. Taylor Stadium opened April 10, 2002. The inaugural game pitted the Terrapins against in-state rival Towson. The first game in the stadium saw a no-hitter thrown by Maryland's Amanda Becker who struck out 7 Towson Tigers
The Towson Tigers, formerly the ''Towson College Knights'', are the athletics teams of Towson University. All of the major athletic teams compete in the Colonial Athletic Association with 19 Division I athletic teams (13 in women's sports, 6 in ...
en route to her first no-hitter and a Maryland win.[Maryland Athletics – University of Maryland Official Athletic Site]
/ref>
During the 2010 season the Stadium hosted its first ever regional as the Terrapins played host to Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
, Fordham, and Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
. They hosted a regional again in the NCAA softball tournament in 2011.
Features
Robert E. Taylor Stadium has light towers for night games, two bullpens, four batting cages, a press box area, a concession area and several other amenities.artificial turf
Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...
field that is used for practice by men's lacrosse, women's lacrosse
Women's lacrosse (or girls' lacrosse), sometimes shortened to lax, is a sport with twelve players on the field at a time (including the goalkeeper). Originally played by indigenous peoples of the Americas, the modern women's game was introduce ...
, men's soccer, and women's soccer. To the east of the softball stadium is the field hockey field where the field hockey team plays.
References
{{University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park facilities
College softball venues in the United States
Maryland Terrapins softball
2002 establishments in Maryland