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ESTERO — Monday morning, Florida Gulf Coast University softball coach David Deiros was on a stepladder, tugging down batting cage netting in preparation for Tropical Storm Fay, which was predicted to breeze through Southwest Florida sometime today.

“Today, I wish I was coaching an indoor sport,” Deiros said.

They’re taking no chances at FGCU. Women’s soccer coach Jim Blankenship asked for and was given permission to use his team’s new FGCU clubhouse locker room for foreign students who were wary of riding out their first tropical storm or hurricane in their on-campus dorms and apartments.

There was also concern for the new permanent scoreboard at the soccer complex, which was being raised as Blankenship’s Eagles practiced Monday morning under dark skies for Friday night’s season-opening home match against Florida Atlantic.

Meanwhile, FGCU officials readied 4,500-seat Alico Arena for a mandatory on-campus student evacuation to the designated shelter this morning.

The first season of the softball complex’s existence, in the fall of 2003, portions of the outfield fence were blown away during a thunderstorm, as was a portion of the fencing at Swanson Stadium, something ingrained in Deiros’ mind.

“Our outfield mesh screens were up and the wind just picked ’em up like sails,” Deiros said. “Destroyed the entire outfield fence of the baseball field and did some damage to our field. If (a major storm) comes in from the west, it just tears up anything that has a mesh or background.”

On Monday, Deiros felt much more prepared, if not fully at ease.

“We did everything we needed to do to take care of the field,” he said. “I’m worried about the hanging system for our cages. I just don’t want the weight of the nets and the wind to tear down what we’ve put together. These cages are too nice. We’re an outdoor sport, so we’ve got to make sure we take care of our facilities. It’s too expensive to put them back together.”

The day prior, FGCU baseball coach Dave Tollett began an unscheduled eight-hour workday. When he arrived at Swanson Stadium, athletic director Carl McAloose and associate athletics director/advancement Butch Perchan already were at it. It was Perchan’s birthday and the day before McAloose’s.

“That’s impressive,” Tollett said of his blue-collar bosses.

They took down the tarps from the bullpen mounds, the game mound, the catching areas, broke down and stored the pitching machines and toted away wheelbarrows, trash cans and dugout supplies.

“It was a long day yesterday,” Tollett said. “But this is my baby.”