Softball league offers reprieve from duties of every day life

Softball... play for the fun of it? Yes, that's happening almost every Wednesday evening in a casual women's league.

It's been going on for years, maybe decades. They play every Wednesday evening at 6:30 in one of six eastern Washington towns: Ritzville, Odessa (which has two teams), Wilbur, Grand Coulee, Wilson Creek and Davenport. It has all the hallmarks of an organized league, but sometimes it becomes a scheduling operation to match up teams.

The idea is to play each team during a season. At the end of the season, the team with the best record is "League Champ." Also at the end of the season, they have an all-day tournament (Saturday, on Father's Day weekend), the winner of which is "Tournament Champ." Both are awarded a trophy at a league dinner and the second and third place teams receive money.

So as you may expect, there are dues for each player each season, but dues are minimal, around $25. Sometimes a team has a sponsor who may pick up the dues. The teams meet once a year to go over the rules and handle scheduling. Umpires are the responsibility of each home team.

And who is eligible to play? Anyone. Well ,women, and all ages above late teens, unless the person is on a high school team. The Ritzville team has a mother-daughter duo on the team. Teams play with an outfield rover, so it requires at least ten members.

So far, so good – but the scheduled game times don't always work out if a team is missing members. Members of a team may have a Wednesday obligation, or get sick, or have to care for a child. Some moms have kids in T-ball or Little League, which may disrupt scheduling. In those cases, the teams between themselves work out a day to reschedule a game.

Softball comes in three types: slow pitch, which requires a minimal arc on each pitch; modified slow pitch, which does not require an arc on each pitch, but no wind-up is allowed; and fast pitch, which is what you see on college women's teams – a wind-up pitcher who may intimidate even a professional baseball player. This women's league plays a modified slow pitch game. All games go at least five innings and there is no mercy rule. However after five innings, coaches may agree to end the game. A game may be called for daylight reasons, in which case it gets made up from the point when it was called.

Softball teams are organized and maintained through word-of-mouth. Ritzville's team plays at the softball field adjacent to the high school baseball field at the eastern end of East Birch Avenue. Remember: it's playing softball to have fun.