Continuous upgrades to the Pepsi Softball Centre indicate the sport is healthy in Whitehorse, Softball Yukon's executive director said yesterday.

"We've never taken the Pepsi Centre to be satisfied with the way it is,” George Arcand said.

"We're always trying to upgrade it to be better for the players, whether it be for the locals or Worlds or Nationals or whatever. You never, ever stop trying to upgrade it and make it better, because if you do, you'll lose it.”

Arcand was on site yesterday when construction began on the Pepsi Centre's newest upgrade – replacing the dugouts at Field 1 and 2.

The cost for replacing the old dugouts, which includes fence work, is between $20,000-$30,000, he said.

The new dugouts will be eight feet wide by 34 feet long, compared to the old dugouts which were at six feet wide and 25 feet long.

"The ones we had were workable, they were very small, so you didn't have a lot of room to walk around or put any equipment in there,” Arcand said.

"There's no emergency reason, there's no safety reason – it's just upgrading.”

As well, the new dugouts will be at ground level rather than a step below.

Arcand studied the design of various ballparks before settling on one in Oklahoma City.

"The in-ground ones we get a lot of flooding, a lot of seepage water, and if it doesn't drain it causes problems.”

The job began yesterday and should take a week to finish, Arcand added.

Games scheduled to take place at Fields 1 and 2 will be moved across the street.

Softball Yukon made the decision to go ahead with the project within the last month.

"It's always been one of those things we'd like to do but never had the money to do it,” Arcand said.

"It's something that's always been there and now we have an opportunity to do it, so we're going ahead with it.”

And the timing of the new additions couldn't be better.

Softball Yukon will host Team Canada's Senior Women's Fast Pitch selection camp beginning June 29 to July 7 at the Pepsi Centre complex.

The team trials will be ideal in the lead up to Whitehorse hosting the International Softball Federation XIII Women's World Championships in 2012.

"It'll be nice to have them done in time for that, but it's for the Worlds, it's also for the league, because the ones we have are 30 years old and really small; so it's for all of those things,” Arcand said.

"The (players) I've talked to think it's a good idea; it's nice to see upgrades being done.”

Softball Yukon is a member of Softball Canada, Slo-Pitch National and the Western Canadian Softball Association.