Written by Joanne Morvay Weant
Ronda Nichols was six years old when she first slid a brand new leather mitt onto her hand and took her position on the softball field.
Twenty-eight years later, Nichols still loves putting on a well-worn, albeit larger glove, and taking her base.
A young man’s thoughts may turn to love in spring, but for this young woman spring means only one thing: Softball.
“I’ll play as long as my knees and arms hold out,” Nichols said, only half-joking. She is not alone.
What happens when ballplayers outgrow Little League, high school ball and their college team? Some toss their mitts in a drawer, box up their trophies and stack their bats in the garage.
But others like Nichols cannot let the game go that easily. So they join an adult league softball team.
A quick Internet search turns up four national softball sanctioning bodies governing adult teams across the country at every level of play and every possible interest.
There are men’s teams, women’s teams and co-ed or “mixed” teams, as well as “senior” teams for women over 45 and men over 50. Potential players can join a team through their churches or ethnic organizations (African American and Hispanic leagues predominate in some areas.) Police officers can join teams that play in police leagues. In communities with large military populations, members of the military often have their own leagues as well.
Those who just want to play for fun and the chance to run the bases every once in a while can join a recreation level team. Players who are still out for blood after all these years often join more competitive teams that strive to end each season in an officially-sanctioned “world series.” There are even teams that gather solely to play weekend tournaments; weekend after weekend after weekend until the weather turns progressively colder and it’s finally time to put the mitts and bats away for another year.
The spring/summer adult league softball season runs from April 21 to the last week of July or the first week of August. The fall season runs from the last week of August or first week of September through the last week of October.
Matt Purkins, manager of the Carroll County Sports Complex, said there are softball players on the complex’s fields six nights a week from spring through fall. Most of the teams in the county play at the complex, which is located on Route 97 north of Westminster.
Purkins, who began his career as a local Little League baseball player, is right there with them. In addition to managing the complex, Purkins, 33, coaches his church team. Last year, his New Windsor Presbyterian players took first place in the county’s “church league” championship.
Purkins said he helped start the church team because he thought it was a great fellowship opportunity. But that’s not what keeps him playing ball. Like Nichols, Purkins loves the game too much to let it go.
“I needed something to do once the opportunities weren’t there for me to play baseball anymore,” he said. “This gives me a chance to go out and play ball with my friends.”
According to the International Softball Federation (ISF), based in Plant City, Florida, softball is played in 124 countries. Competitive adult leagues are just as popular in Canada, Australia, Japan and the Phillippines as they are in the United States. The ISF’s newest regional training center, announced in February, will be built just outside of Moscow.
Not bad for a sport that started as a joke.
Softball legend has it that the first game was played in Chicago, Illinois in September 1887. Local Yale and Harvard alumni had gathered to hear the score of the annual Yale-Harvard football game. According to the oft-told tale, a Yale alum threw a nearby boxing glove at a Harvard alum in jest. The Harvard alum picked up a broom handle and hit the “ball” back. George Hancock, a journalist for the Chicago Board of Trade who was in attendance that day, tied the boxing glove into a ball and the game was on.
First called “indoor baseball” or “indoor-outdoor,” by 1889 Chicago had its own Mid Winter Indoor Baseball League. Hancock’s game got a big boost in popularity after Louis Rober, a Minneapolis fire lieutenant decided his firefighters should play indoor baseball to keep fit during cold weather. Lt. Rober soon moved the game to a vacant lot near the firehouse, renaming it “kittens.”
It wasn’t until 1926 that someone suggested calling the game “softball,” differentiating the 12-inch softball from the smaller and harder baseball. The name softball didn’t stick until 1933 when the first softball tournament was held at that year’s World’s Fair in Chicago.
By the 1940s, the fast pitch dominated softball as it did baseball. But after slow-pitch softball was formally recognized in 1953 by the Amateur Softball Association, slow pitch soon became much more popular. Unlike baseball, which remains male-dominated even today, slow-pitch softball attracted a large number of women players.
The basic difference between the two types of softball can be found in the pitch. In slow pitch, the ball must arc before it crosses the plate. This gives the batter an advantage, which is why slow pitch is considered a batter’s game.
In fast pitch, the ball is thrown fast and straight, similar to hardball. Pitching speeds of 70 miles per hour and higher are common. The field of play is typically smaller because the pitcher often has the upper hand over the batter.
According to Purkins, the leagues offered through Carroll’s Sports Complex play slow-pitch softball. The teams are sanctioned by the United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) (formerly the United States Slo-Pitch Softball Association) based in Kissimmee, Florida. The complex also offers a series of women’s fast pitch tournaments each year.
Unlike the days of school gym classes and the horrors of being the last one chosen for the team, Carroll’s softball players can find a league team to match every skill level.
There are C, D, and E level men’s leagues with 24 teams between them, playing recreational to competitive tournament level ball. The church league fielded 10 teams last season. And the recreational co-ed league had 16 teams last year, while the more competitive Friday night co-ed league offered seven.
“The co-ed league is a great place for a couple to do a sport together or for groups of couples that are friends who want to do something athletic together,” Purkins said. “There are a lot of people who have kids playing sports. The co-ed league is great for them because both parents are out there together and they can be with the kids the rest of the week.”
In fact, the co-ed league, like most of Carroll’s leagues, is pretty family-oriented. “You’ll have a parent playing first base and his or her kids will be over fooling around on the side somewhere,” said Ronda Nichols, who co-manages the Carroll County Pools and Spas team.
“It’s not uncommon in adult ball to see parents call a time out to separate their kids,” she laughed.
Nichols freely admits that she used to be one of those kids. Her mother and stepfather played adult league ball while she was growing up in Hampstead. Nichols played in youth softball leagues and then on travel and high school teams. She did not play in college, but found her way back to the field after she earned her graduate degree in 2001. Nichols and her husband were living in Virginia when friends from Carroll County began calling her to come up on weekends and substitute on their teams.
The couple moved back to the area (they’re presently living in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania) and Nichols began playing full-time again. By 2005, Nichols had begun coaching. Her team’s biggest sponsor is Carroll County Pools and Spas, owned by her stepfather, Robert Rill.
Nichols said her team probably spends $2,500 to $3,500 each year on tournament, league and umpire fees. Members typically raise $1,000 to $1,400 of that through such fundraisers as raffles or candle sales. Their sponsor covers the rest.
That does not include each player’s personal costs for food and lodging at tournaments around the region and the country. For the past four seasons, the Carroll County Pools players have attended USSSA tournaments in Florida. This year the team finished in the middle of a pack of about 60 teams, Nichols said. In previous years, they’ve finished a little higher.
“You always want to win,” Nichols said, “but the other thing is you always want to have fun.”
Although some teams change their line-ups from year to year, Nichols’ team has remained constant.
“We were actually all real good friends before we played together,” she said. “Win or lose, we come off the field and we’re still great friends. We have parties together, we celebrate holidays together, we take vacations together.”
Although the adult ball player stereotype might be that of someone reliving his or her glory days, Nichols is quick to point out that her team does not share all the same glory days. And even if they did, they are too busy to look back on softball seasons past.
“Most people out there playing adult ball really love the game and love the sport,” Nichols said. “It keeps them young and it keeps them off the couch.”
