O'Fallon to close Ozzie Smith Sport Complex Oct. 27 for turf install; tournaments to expand into weekdays

O'Fallon Parks & Recreation staff said Oct. 14 the city will close the Ozzie Smith Sport Complex to the public starting Oct. 27 to install synthetic turf, with the aim of reducing rainouts and expanding tournament opportunities in 2026.

Dalton Patton, recreation program manager, told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board that the department expects the turf to make late-November dates and weekday tournaments more reliable and that a field-reservation deposit policy will be proposed by the end of the month. "With turf, looking to expand our offerings away from only exclusively Saturday, Sunday and potentially looking into adding in Friday days of tournaments and Thursday tournaments, to try to get bigger events coming to O'Fallon," Patton said.

Patton reviewed 2025 tournament activity at Ozzie and Westhoff Park: organizers ran 22 weekends of tournaments, there were about five rainouts and three cancellations, roughly 1,300 individual games were played, and about 642 teams participated. He said roughly 30% of teams were from St. Charles County, about 20% were from out of state, and the remaining teams were from elsewhere in Missouri.

The department also secured the Triple Crown National fast-pitch softball tournament again; Patton said the 2025 Triple Crown event that used Ozzie attracted about 56 teams, 54 of which were from outside Missouri. That national draw was cited by staff as a reason to prioritize turf at Ozzie.

Patton said organizers have requested 28 unique tournaments for 2026 (up from 25 requests in 2025). He said the department plans to finalize a deposit policy and a concrete 2026 schedule by month-end. "All of the dates on here have been requested by tournament organizations," he said, noting some late-season November dates are targeted for fast-pitch softball because turf reduces the weather risk that affects dirt fields.

Staff also told the board they expect Westhoff Park to be used less for tournaments once Ozzie advertises as a turf facility. During audience questions, Patton said severe day-of-game conditions such as heavy rain or lightning can still prevent play on turf and that freezing/ice in late November remains a possible constraint.

The installation and the deposit policy are operational staff decisions; the board did not vote on the project during the informational session because no quorum was present.