Renovated Softball Fields, Tennis Court Celebrated at Ribbon-Cuttings

October 1, 2026
• The ribbon-cuttings, rescheduled from early June, officially commemorated the community additions.

Town employees and local officials gathered at Claxton Field and Needham High School to celebrate the completion of two long-awaited recreational spaces with a ribbon-cutting Wednesday afternoon.

The ribbon-cuttings were previously scheduled for June 5 but were abruptly canceled after Park and Recreation Commission Chair Chris Gerstel was arrested that morning on fraud charges.

At Claxton, the town funded two new softball fields after considerable delays. The site, previously home to a burn pit, underwent additional safety steps as required by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Those contamination mitigation efforts, in turn, pushed back a funding vote at Town Meeting.

A $3.6 million appropriation was approved in May 2024, and the fields were reopened in August 2025. The renovation followed one at DeFazio’s McCloud Field, which is also a softball field, in the spring of 2024.

Addressing a small crowd between the two fields — which are located across from the Needham Recycling and Transfer Station — Town Manager Katie King touted the benefits of the space for “passive recreation,” pointing to the adjacent walking trail, as well as its larger capacity for organized sports.

“I also just want to say how excited I am,” King said.

Select Board Chair Heidi Frail called it “a fabulous community benefit” before cutting the ribbon.

The Needham Softball 12U Summer Team went undefeated this year, signaling an even greater need for the town to bolster its fields, said Cindy Chaston, a Park and Recreation Commission member.

“We thought there was a real need for some premier softball fields for the girls, our young women athletes, and we didn’t really have that,” Chaston said in an interview.

Across town, eight new tennis courts at NHS were getting put to use on Wednesday, when the Claxton crowd traveled over for the second ribbon-cutting.

The courts replaced aged ones that showed extensive wear, so much so that the school’s tennis teams had to relocate temporarily. The previous courts were installed in 2006, following the NHS renovation.

The new courts have a predicted 25-year lifespan. They were opened in December 2025 after considerable public input as well as a slight funding delay: an appropriation vote was pushed from May to October 2024. The town allocated $3 million for the project, though it came in almost $466,000 under budget.

At eight courts, the high school can now host competitions. Park and Recreation can also better accommodate its large swath of community tennis players through its summer programs, which have become “oversubscribed,” Chaston said.

While still playable, the courts suffered minor damage after a private tree fell onto them and caused “some scratching damage to the new paint,” Parks and Forestry Superintendent Tim Carpenter told the commission on Monday. Carpenter later clarified in an email that the impacted court will likely need “a good strong cleaning of the area and at most some touch up paint/sealant.”

Abutters’ concerns about pickleball were also assuaged, as the at-times noisy sport cannot be played on the new courts. However, the town may consider constructing five pickleball courts at Claxton along Central Avenue, as well as a skatepark at the old quarry on site. The commission held its third community meeting on that project Sept. 24.

Both the pickleball and skatepark capture a different demographic for Park and Rec, Chaston said, which aids in their efforts to engage more people in the town’s facilities.

Still, these things take time. The pickleball courts and skatepark are projected to seek funding at the May 2027 Town Meeting and start construction in FY28, but considering the prior delays with the NHS tennis courts and Claxton softball fields, the timeline may shift.

“It’s a long process,” Chaston said. “And this town is supportive of recreation projects. As a Park and Rec commissioner, I so appreciate that. The taxpayers are wonderful, and we really appreciate the support.”