THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: Making the most of Marimn ... Cardinal softball finds temporary home on turf at Coeur Center in Worley

The North Idaho College softball team has spent a lot of time trying to find a patch of dirt to call its own.

Whether it’s Memorial Field, an area high school, Ramsey Park — wherever — the Cardinals just want to play ball.

While the spring has been a little milder than normal, with less snow, that rain hasn’t helped the cause so far.

EARLIER THIS year, NIC opted to take its home games from its home field, Memorial Field in downtown Coeur d'Alene, 27 miles south to the Marimn Health Coeur Center in Worley, playing games on its artificial turf field.

NIC played the College of Southern Idaho in a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader in Worley on Friday, with two more games scheduled there against CSI today, starting at noon.

“What it really is is the weather,” NIC athletic director Shawn Noel said. “Our first home game this year is on the first weekend in March. And I look like a fool because the weather is nice, or it’s nicer. But the reality of playing around here the first weekend in March is hard. With Worley having turf, unless we’ve got a foot of snow, it drains quickly. Today (Wednesday), if it rains today and tomorrow, it would be really hard. In Worley, we really don’t have to worry about that. It’s really just making sure we can get the games in. It’s not like I can call Salt Lake and say 'hold your bus,' and they’re two hours away. For them, it’s a trip and we have to play. That gives us the best opportunity to play.”

Last year, NIC played its first two home series at Airport Park in Lewiston as the fields in Worley weren’t open yet. In addition, weather kept the Cardinals off Memorial Field, the program’s home since the program launched in 1998.

NIC previously used area high schools, either Lake City or Post Falls, for home games if Memorial wasn’t playable.

“If we get rain, we get rain,” Noel said. “Then we’ve got to depend on that high school, and we’ve worked good with those schools in the past and had good relationships, but it puts it on them and their staff to get a field ready, especially on a Saturday. Using the turf and having that, it’s just an advantage. Unless we get a foot of snow, we can go down and play. We don’t have to worry about raking dirt, pumping puddles and fixing lines. It’s just ready to go. In Worley, it’s all turf from the batter’s box to the rubber. It’s all artificial turf. With weather, and where the teams are coming from, it just gives us the best opportunity to play the games.” 

Last year, Salt Lake Community College protested a game against NIC at Memorial Field due to new NJCAA rules stating that padding is required on the backstop. Padding wasn’t required in the Northwest Athletic Conference, of which NIC was a member from 2017 until the 2025 season, when the Cardinals returned to the NJCAA.

The NWAC only recommends padding, should a backstop of wood — which is used at Memorial — cement or brick be used. NIC also has a few more upgrades it needs to make at Memorial to bring it up to NJCAA regulations. The fields in Worley also have wood backstops, but were allowable as they were on a list of alternate sites NIC submitted during the league meeting, should games have to be moved due to weather.

“One, at least, is having a turf infield, if not turf the entire thing,” second-year NIC coach Michael Garoutte said. “Another is the padding that needs to be done. I love Memorial. The location is awesome and the grandstands and the padding needs to go all the way to the dugouts and the (foul) poles need to be fixed. A lot of stuff needs to be fixed for inspection by the NJCAA. It was OK in the NWAC, but the NJCAA has different standards.” 

NIC played its entire fall season last year at Memorial Field, which was refurbished a few years ago.

“Basically, the infield mix isn’t really an infield mix, and it’s just dirt,” Garoutte said. “The outfield is rough right now, and it doesn’t hold water and the drainage isn’t good at all.” 

Maycee Madsen, a freshman infielder from Riverton, Utah, was looking forward to playing games at Memorial Field this season after her on-campus visit last year.

“Walking onto Memorial and being ‘oh my gosh, I can see the lake from my position on the field’ and that being so cool,” said Madsen, who plays second base. “That’s kind of a sad change. But Worley’s field is nice and there’s less chance for an injury. Memorial, with the grandstands, that was a cool field to play on.” 

Charlie Stern, a sophomore infielder from Mead High in Spokane, echoed that point.

“It’s a very historical place,” Stern said. “I really like where we’re playing now but really miss that historical aspect.” 

The team has been splitting practices between Worley, an indoor facility in Spokane Valley and the team’s indoor facility on campus.

“When we got back from Christmas, we started practicing heavy at HumNow in Spokane Valley,” Madsen said. “I think that really got us prepared for the turf in Worley. I’ve practiced on turf my entire life, so it wasn’t something that I’m not super used to.” 

“They’re nice fields,” Stern said. “It’s really a privilege to get to go and play on fields that are so nice and the weather doesn’t dictate if we can or can’t play. Honestly, all of our home games have been beautiful weather. I really like that we can practice outside more now because of it and get our work done instead of being inside. Today (Wednesday), practicing in the rain wasn’t a big deal. But here at Memorial, if it starts raining and gets flooded, we’ve got to leave.” 

Last year, during ‘home’ games in Lewiston, NIC stayed in Lewiston, also another expense it had to endure to get games in.

“We get to travel and go to so many cool places in this conference,” Stern said. “And I really wasn’t expecting that coming here. I did like having Memorial, because it was a known thing. But you’ve got to go and play the game. Last year, it was a little more difficult playing home games in Lewiston, so that was weird. Being 30 minutes away instead of two hours isn’t as bad. We’d do overnights in Lewiston, and never really had a home game.” 

“We found out we’d be playing here (in Worley) maybe the first of the year,” said CSI coach Nick Baumert, who has been the Golden Eagles' coach since 2006. “It’s gorgeous. I told Coach G (Garoutte) that this is one of the prettiest parks I’ve played in. Just the scenery and they’re doing a nice job here. I’ve brought some high school teams up here for state tournaments, and we’d run into weather delays. It’s nice to have a turf surface to get those games in.”

Baumert added that they’ve had to play in a few different locations, just to get the games in when traveling to face NIC.

“We’ve played in Moses Lake and we’ve played in Lewiston,” Baumert said. “There were a couple of weekends where we just sat in the hotel room and waited for it to stop raining, but it never did.”

AS AREA high schools begin their seasons, the opportunities for NIC to play at an alternate site in town — whether that’s Coeur d’Alene or Post Falls — gets tougher and tougher.

“The area high schools didn’t really have anything open on a consistent basis,” Garoutte said. “We’re halfway through our season, and their season starts. We wanted to keep things consistent, at least for our players. We realize it’s a pain in the butt, but it is what it is. I feel bad, especially for the sophomores because they really didn’t have a home field because they only played two home games at Memorial last year and the rest of the time, we were down in Lewiston.”

In Worley, the fields are also used by youth programs at the Coeur Center.

“It’s a beautiful spot,” Garoutte said. “There are trees, hills and houses in the background. The field is oriented differently, but it’s a great place.” 

School officials have also weighed the idea of finding a location for the softball team by building an on-campus field, with Noel adding that a possible location could be in a parking lot on Hubbard Avenue and Northwest Boulevard near the treatment facility.

“The facility is on the radar,” Noel said. “Right now, it’s where and how much is this going to cost. But I think softball is the one sport that we don’t have an on-campus facility. Memorial is close, but it’s not ours. That’s a sport where we have a facility that’s ours. We can do as much as we can, no matter where we go.” 

“Right now, the talk is more about a new field or renovating Memorial,” Garoutte said. “It’s kind of quieted down since the end of last year, it was a really big priority to work on getting the field. It's costing us money to be down there (Worley).” 

Noel estimates NIC pays $1,500 per day to play its games in Worley. The Coeur Center has two softball fields, one the Cardinals use to warm up, as well as a batting cage. That fee also covers access to home and visiting locker rooms, as well as a concession stand run by the staff at Marimn Health.

Noel added that playing soccer on the artificial turf football field at the Coeur Center, where the NIC soccer teams have held camps in the past, is also an option when the Cardinals on-campus home field, Eisenwinter Field, gets soggy in October and November.

“I think there’s always an opportunity for sure,” Noel said. “They’ve got great facilities right there and they’ve been easy to work with. It’s an opportunity for their community to come see us as well. It’s a farther trip for our fans, but most of them are parents that will travel to watch no matter where we’re playing. It’s not really that much of a trip.” 

“Memorial, just the setting is so amazing with the lake being right there,” Baumert said. “I think the bleachers and tradition and setting, it’s just perfect where it is. If they were able to upgrade some infield dirt or a different soil, they could make a go of it.”

OUTSIDE OF an early season matchup with Big Bend Community College, scheduled for Worley, but moved to Big Bend's home field in Moses Lake, Wash., after the outfield fence hadn’t been delivered yet, NIC has played all of its games as scheduled this season.

“The biggest benefit is that we’re playing,” Garoutte said. “It’s turf fields, and we’re playing games. Luckily, we’ve had a mild spring and we’ve been able to get all of our games in. We’ve prepared the teams and it’s only a half hour drive away. Most of the other teams bus it up, so they stay up here and then leave from Worley and head home on (U.S.) 95.” 

For Friday’s series, roughly 65 fans of both NIC and CSI traveled to the Cardinals' alternate home for the games, with the Golden Eagles of Twin Falls winning 7-0 and 13-4 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play. The teams will play another doubleheader in Worley today starting at noon.

NIC's home finale is April 24-25, when the Cardinals host Utah State-Eastern of Price, Utah.

“It’s been hard,” Noel said. “Spring break captures the past two weekends, and there’s not a lot of the students here right now. But for the final home game (April 24-25), we’re trying to get some transportation down there and do something to get the students down there for sure.” 

But for this year at least, NIC continues to make the best of it, no matter where it calls home.

“We have a great relationship with the city (of Coeur d'Alene),” Noel said. “They’ve helped out a lot. Given the time and weather considerations, it’s probably the best alternative to have a location to where they can call home. We’ve called it our home away from home. And I think our student-athletes have liked it. It’s a great alternative given the situation.” 

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 12006 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press North Idaho College and rival College of Southern Idaho traveled to the Marimn Health Coeur Center for their Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader on Friday. NIC moved its home games from Memorial Field in Coeur d'Alene to Worley this year.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press North Idaho College sophomore pitcher Makenna Webber throws a warmup pitch before the start of the second game of a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader against the College of Southern Idaho at the Marimn Health Coeur Center in Worley on Friday.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press North Idaho College sophomore pitcher Maelynn Durham throws a pitch during the fifth inning of the first game in Friday's Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader against College of Southern Idaho at the Marimn Health Coeur Center in Worley.