- Aug 21, 2008
- 2,386
- 113
LE, where do you live? I could point you to the nearest league or tournament closest to you. Depending on where you are will depend on how far you'd have to go. Also, many leagues are glorified beer leagues but it's still fastpitch softball. I agree with Pattar, there's nothing better to help someone. Personally, in addition to lessons, I throw a lot of BP to hitters that are in college or close to it. We work on hitting the movement pitches and ultimately how to pick pitchers for their benefit. The question is, would the local men's league let her play? Most of the time the answer would be a resounding NO. Usually out of ego if we're being honest. Kirk Walker, UCLA "pitching coach", plays in an annual National tournament called NAFA (North American Fastpitch Association). NAFA has several different levels of competition. In fact, I think they are the only organization left that has multiple levels of play for championships. I don't think USA softball has any lower classification nationals anymore, all they have is the Open division. There's ZERO chance they'd let a female play, and that's not just out of ego. The main competition for men's fastpitch is the ISC (International Softball Congress). That is the championship the top teams care about. Sure, winning the USA Nationals is important, but the ISC is the real prize. At one point, ISC had a lower division but they found that teams were wanting to play the lower division instead of the upper one, which caused a lot of chaos. They have since blended the 2 together so to speak. Walker pitches in the lowest level of NAFA, it's probably the lowest level of men's fastpitch that still has some form of National championship. NAFA will actually "rank" pitchers to ensure they don't play at a level beneath them. So, John Doe is too good for this division, he must pitch at the next one. Etc. etc.
NAFA famously let a woman pitch in their National tournament for several years, Debbie Day. She did well and won some games. She pitched in the same division (or maybe same team???) as Walker. NAFA was ridiculed in the men's FP world for allowing this.
Anyway, while it's not everywhere the way it used to be in the 1970's, there's still some leagues out there if you know where to look. LE, if I'm reading this right, you live in NY somewhere. I can point you to leagues in that state and surrounding.
After 18u, as others have mentioned there's the new 23u teams. My niece played for a Buffalo team this summer. There's also international softball if she wanted. Teams in NZ/Australia always look for Americans to come play during OUR winter, and nearly every country in Europe wants American players during our summer. Those are nice options too, and if she wanted, I could put you in touch with people on either side of the world. Although I would imagine she's going to college. But those opportunites will be there after college if she wanted. Bottom line, there's more softball to be played if anyone wants.
