Work continues at Stellos Stadium to get the facility ready for a target date of April 14, the start of the high school lacrosse season. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Target Date: Monday, April 14.

That’s when the spring season’s field sports – baseball, softball and lacrosse– are scheduled to open their seasons.

And that’s when the Nashua High School North, South and Bishop Guertin boys and girls lacrosse teams hope to be playing on Motta Field at Stellos Stadium.

The work has been ongoing once the snow was cleared or melted away a few weeks ago at the city’s rectangular facility that was closed in early October due to safety concerns about the deteriorating turf.

After the city came through with funding back in November, work began then to put the new turf down. But there is still more that needs to be done to firm it up and make it safe, according to Nashua Athletic Director Lisa Gingras.

“It’s not ready,” Gingras said. “By appearances it looks ready, but it’s not completely glued together and officially installed yet. They’re still doing quite a bit of work on that.

“Once the field itself is installed, they have to lay in all the rubber, so there’s that process. They’re putting in all the lines. Again while people look at it from a distance it looks like it’s ready to go, but it’s nowhere near (ready).”

Gingras said the turf seams aren’t together, the lines need to be glued in. The white bags that are in the stadium parking lot are all the rubber and sand that needs to go back in.

“It’s what they call reclaiming,” Gingras said. “So they pulled it out and tested it to make sure it was safe, all of the right consistency and mixture and all of that stuff. So they’ll do some new and old mixed together.”

Fans will also notice a change in the stadium’s layout. The bushes that surrounded two thirds of the field have been removed, and now the entire field is fenced off.

Weather will “definitely play a part,” Gingras said, to allow time for the work to be done. The good thing is the outdoor fields are able to be used for practices and scrimmages. Last Saturday, however, Nashua was able to have a lacrosse scrimmage at Souhegan’s facility in the few mid-day hours it was free.

“With the forecast it might have ruined the field,” Gingras said. “I called Kelli (Souhegan AD Braley) at the last minute and asked if she had an availability. Fortunately, her teams were going in the morning and the afternoon – so we squeezed in right in the middle.”

Bishop Guertin boys lacrosse, athletic director Ryan Brown said, has always practiced in Bedford at the Back River facility. The Cardinal girls have used Stellos to practice, but are renting time for now at the Tyngsborough (Mass.) Sports Center.

But the North and South fields were ready from the start, Gingras said.

“Absolutely,” she said. “We have fields at the schools so we can always play there. We’re good.”

So they’re available as a backup for games for North and South if there’s an issue or a delay in the Stellos opening. It’s unlikely BG would use Elliott Field at the school for varsity play in case there’s an issue. Last fall they used the fields at Rivier and Presentation of Mary in Hudson for home games after Stellos was shut down.

Still, Gingras can’t wait for the teams to be back at Stellos.

“Yes, back to normal,” she said.

If everything goes accordingly, the first games to be played at Stellos will be a boys lacrosse doubleheader on Monday the 14th: Nashua South would host Manchester Memorial-Central at 4 p.m. while North would take on Merrimack at 6.