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The 2026 prep softball season is underway as the Lynnwood Royals, Edmonds-Woodway Warriors and Mountlake Terrace Hawks are all seeing action on their all-weather synthetic turf fields built in the past 17 years.
The Meadowdale Mavericks, who have played on a dirt and grass field since the school opened its present campus nearly 30 years ago, have been waiting for their turn to get an upgrade to their home field.
After plans were announced and ground was broken on their softball field upgrade late last year, the Mavs had their fingers crossed that their long-awaited new home would be ready for their home opener this Monday. As it turns out, the team will have to wait a little bit longer.
School officials had hoped the new diamond for the Mavericks would be ready in time for the team’s first home game on Monday, March 16, but delays to construction have now pushed the opening date of the new field to April.
Curtis Campbell, director of communications for the Edmonds School District, estimates the field’s opening “in mid-spring.”
The delay hasn’t dampered the excitement that this year’s Mavericks’ squad has for their new coming home. “They are biting at the bit to get on that new field,” said Coach Julia Rueble.
Rueble may be the most enthused of all to see the school’s old softball field get bulldozed and replaced with a new synthetic turf and fenced-enclosed complex. The second-year coach of the Mavericks is a Meadowdale alum and was a member of the 2016 softball team that won a state championship.
“We’ll have lights so that we can play night games,” Rueble said regarding the Mavs’ new field. “We’ll have a (it) enclosed all the way around the perimeter; we’ll have nice batting cages; new dugouts. It will be really great.”
It wasn’t hard for Rueble to recall the condition of the old field during her playing days at Meadowdale High School. “It looked a lot like what it looked like before they tore it down (last year),” Rueble said.
“When I played there, the outfield was kind of more like a pond for a while in right field,” Rueble continued. “Then maintenance came and fixed that, for a while. Our Edmonds School District maintenance department tried their best to keep it nice for us during the season. But it was definitely time for a change.”
The new field, along with a planned upgrade to the Meadowdale High School baseball field that will begin after spring sports at the school have wrapped up in late May, is costing the school district just over $7 million and is being paid for by funds from the voter-approved 2024 capital levy.
A $6.2 million project to upgrade the Mountlake Terrace High School softball field and adjacent soccer pitch was completed in time for the 2024 spring sports season. Edmonds-Woodway High School opened a new softball complex in 2016 while the Lynnwood High School campus on North Road was opened in 2009 with sparkling new all-weather fields.
The opening of the Meadowdale High School softball field completes the district’s upgrades of its prep softball facilities and puts the four high school teams on level footing, Rueble noted.
“We’re so excited to get on that new field,” Rueble said. “It will be nice that all the fields in the Edmonds School District are going to be turf for a nice even playing field. Sometimes it (the old field at Meadowdale) was an advantage; other times, maybe not. We had to play both ways. But we’re very excited to get on a brand new field and see what it’s like. And to get something that we definitely deserve.”
While construction on the new softball field continues, the Mavericks will use one of the fields at the Meadowdale Playfields for home games, in addition to possible dates at Lynnwood High School or Mountlake Terrace High School, Rueble said.
Meadowdale Mavericks softball 2026 home schedule
– Monday, March 16, versus Juanita (to be played at site to be announced)
– Wednesday, March 25, versus Jackson (to be played at site to be announced)
– Friday, March 27, versus Mountlake Terrace (to be played at site to be announced)
– Monday, March 30, versus Snohomish (to be played at site to be announced)
– Wednesday, April 15, versus Shorewood (at Meadowdale High School*)
– Friday, April 17, versus Lynnwood (at Meadowdale High School*)
– Monday, April 20, versus Edmonds-Woodway (at Meadowdale High School*)
– Friday, April 24, versus Monroe (at Meadowdale High School*)
– Friday, May 1, versus Shorecrest (at Meadowdale High School*)
– Wednesday, May 6, versus Archbishop Murphy (at Meadowdale High School*)
*if construction of new softball field is completed
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