As I ventured to softball practice to work on a season preview, I turned onto Sunnybrook Road in east Raleigh and faced a realization: I’d been driving for an incredibly long time.

I’d been driving long enough that I began to wonder why on Earth the N.C. State softball team would practice and compete so far from campus. I even began to wonder if my directions were wrong.

I felt about as lost as a young Ranger Trivette without the guidance of Chuck Norris.

The reason I’d been driving so long was because the softball team, in its fourth year as a program, continues to wait for its new facility, which will be located where Derr Track now is.

The complex will be shared with the soccer and track and field teams, but should have been completed by the beginning of this season.

In the meantime, the Wolfpack practices and competes at the Walnut Creek Softball Complex, a trek that coach Lisa Navas said hurts the Pack as it loses practice time.

“It is tough,” Navas said. “It takes another 20 to 30 minutes away from the time you could be at practice. You are allowed four hours in a day; they feel like they’ve been out here 20 hours. You know, driving here, getting ready for practice and all that, it does take a little bit longer, and it’s tough.”

There is absolutely no doubt that a lack of facilities has hurt the softball team this season in terms of practice time and put the team at an inconvenience. It is important, though, that the student body realizes that the University is not to blame for the construction delays.

First of all, the lack of facilities over the past three years has not hurt State’s performance, with the team winning both the regular season and ACC tournament championships last season, and it was picked to repeat that effort this year.

Secondly, the University is not going to rush a multi-million-dollar project that will benefit several sports, just to accommodate one particular team.

The University is just as frustrated with the delays as the athletic programs. Many of the delays are inevitable, as inclement weather conditions largely contribute to these delays.

According to Senior Associate Athletic Director David Horning, the project has taken longer than expected, but the University is doing everything possible to get things moving, and it expects the Olympic-style field to be ready for play this fall.

“Right now, the only thing is, it’s not on time, and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Horning said in a Technician interview in January. “We’re going to have a good product. It’s going to be quality. It’ll be within budget, and now we’re trying to get it online as quick as we can.”

The budget Horning refers to is another prime reason the University is not to blame for the delays in the softball complex. Despite the fact that the program is relatively new, the softball team’s facilities and equipment are nearly equal to that of the baseball team, according to figures from Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations Diane Britt Moose.

According to Moose, the budget for the new softball, soccer and track complex is about $6.3 million, which is almost identical to the $6.4 million cost of Doak Field, where the baseball team competes.

And despite currently lacking facilities, the University allots the softball program a $52,000 equipment budget, the fifth-highest among all N.C. State athletic teams.

Though I’m sure a few things could have gone more smoothly in getting construction underway, N.C. State Athletics should not be criticized for taking its time in creating a state-of-the-art facility.

Though it is unfortunate many players on the softball team will never get to play a true home game, the funds the University is pumping into this project will benefit the teams of the future.

According to Navas, the team will not use the lack of facilities as an excuse and will continue to work at improvement and strive to repeat past success.

“It’s just been a lot on us travel-wise and everything else,” Navas said. “But, again, nobody else in the country cares what we’re doing. All they know is that if they play us, then that’s what’s going to happen. So we’ve got to get ready.”

The team deserves a tremendous amount of credit for its success despite lacking facilities, and I believe once the new softball complex is constructed, the University will receive due credit for its contributions as well.