NOTES AND QUOTES for a Thursday in the Napa Valley:

With its cement bleachers providing fans close proximity to the action, an immaculately-maintained grass field and Quonset huts serving as team rooms, historic Napa Memorial Stadium is one of a kind.

It’s a relic that has served the community for over 50 years, gaining national recognition from The Sporting News and ESPNRISE.com as one of the top places in the country for high-school football.

But it’s also an aging facility that has been in need of structural repair work for years.

The field has shown the stress of a lot of activity — football and soccer — all at once.

Getting in and out of the main gate during Big Game is also a challenge. I remember walking practically in a single-file line that seemed to take forever to funnel through the southwest gate leaving after last year’s Napa-Vintage game. The additional time it took just to get to my car and drive the two miles back to the newsroom late at night limited my time to write a story and meet a deadline.

The stadium lights used to be a problem, but not any more. The Napa Valley Unified School District put in a new lighting system last summer — it was a huge improvement, illuminating the entire field in a dramatic way.

There are more changes coming, which I believe will make Memorial Stadium an even better place — for everyone involved.

Measure G, a voter-approved school bond which passed in 2006, will see to that.

Shortly after the last football game is played here later this year, the place will be torn down. When it’s rebuilt and ready to go in the fall of 2010, there will be a new entrance, new bleachers, new team rooms, elevators to new press boxes, new goal posts, a new scoreboard, a new synthetic playing field, new concession areas, additional restrooms and landscaping to give it a whole new look.

The stadium’s seating capacity will also increase to almost 7,000. I’ll be able to cover an event from high above in a working press box.

The community has Don Evans, the director of school planning and construction for the NVUSD, to thank for his work in overseeing this project and getting it off the ground.

It should be a showpiece that teams from far and wide will want to play in.

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Third baseman Brett Wallace, St. Louis’ top pick in the 2008 major league draft, is one of 10 Cardinals prospects to watch, according to Jonathan Mayo, a reporter for MLB.com.

“One thing is certain about the Cardinals’ first-round pick from last June: he can flat-out hit the ball,” Mayo wrote earlier this month in a story that appeared on stlcardinals.com. “While there are still things he can learn offensively, no one feels that will be an issue. The discussions about his future always surround his defense, but the Cardinals think he’s shown enough thus far to continue at the hot corner. He’s got plenty of arm strength and while he’ll never win awards for his range, he’s got enough instincts for the position and he’s more athletic than it may seem. Nevertheless, it’s his bat that will make him a big leaguer in the near future.”

Wallace, a two-time Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year from Arizona State and a graduate of Justin-Siena, played in 54 games in the minors last year, batting .337 with 16 doubles, eight home runs and 36 RBIs between Class A and Double-A ball.

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If you’re a high school basketball fan, all roads lead to Arco Arena in Sacramento Friday and Saturday for the state CIF boys and girls championships.

There are 10 games in five divisions over the two days, as north meets south to end the 2008-09 season.

On Friday, it’s St. Joseph’s Notre Dame-Alameda against Windward-Los Angeles, boys Division V at 1:30 p.m.; Pinewood-Los Altos Hills vs. Bellarmine-Jefferson (Burbank), girls Div. V, 3:30 p.m.; Carondelet-Concord against Brea Olinda-Brea, girls Div. II, 6 p.m.; and Rocklin vs. Eisenhower-Rialto, boys Div. II, 8 p.m.

Six more games take place on Saturday, starting at 9:30 a.m. with Modesto Christian against Mater Dei Catholic-Chula Vista in the girls Div. IV final at 9:30 a.m.

The rest of the schedule has Salesian-Richmond vs. Bishop Montgomery-Torrance, boys Div. IV, 11:15 a.m.; St. Mary’s-Stockton vs. Inglewood, girls Div. III, 1 p.m.; Sacred Heart Cathedral-San Francisco vs. Ocean View-Huntington Beach, boys Div. III, 2:45 p.m.; Monte Vista-Danville vs. Poly-Long Beach, girls Div. I, 6 p.m.; and McClymonds-Oakland against Westchester-Los Angeles, boys Div. I, 8 p.m.

Tickets are available at the Arco Arena Box office and all TicketMaster locations, Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone and ticketmaster.com. The Arena Box Office can be reached by calling (916) 928-0000.

E-mail Executive Sports Editor Marty James at mjames@napanews.com or call 256-2223.