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Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA
I believe it is called the PFX Tour. More like a traveling road show. Lisa Fernandez did everything she could to mention it during the NCAA's.
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I am not aware of any new league that Dot is working on. I do know the PFX Tour is a traveling group, two teams, that play a couple exhibition games on a weekend. In addition, they host JO tournaments and offer golf outings and other activities to make money. They have 6-8 dates this year from what I have heard. It is an interesting idea and supposedly allows most players to maintain regular 9-5 career jobs and play only on the weekends where the NPF requires a 4 game series that cuts into the week making regular work more complicated. Many players are still in the game as college coaches at some level anyway so their summers are pretty flexible.
The competition that I have seen in the NPF is excellent. These are some of the best womens' softball players in the world. Most teams have some local talent added to their roster to try and make a connection between the team and the community and help attract people to the game. Pitching is still well ahead of the hitting, no surprise, but there are still exciting games with regular scoring opportunities throughout the game. If you like softball, I would venture that you would probably love an NPF game. If you are new to softball, it could be a hard sell until there is a little more offense to keep fans on the edge of their seats.
The biggest adjustment for me, as an umpire, was the pace of the game. When the ball is in play, things happen very quickly. After that, it is very very slow moving. Many pitchers are or have pitched for a national team and have mechanics that meet the ISF 2 second pause requirement so motions are very deliberate. In between innings there are often fan participation activities. There are no 5 pitch, 1 minute limits between innings; we work when the players are ready to play. Games under 2 hours are uncommon, but you won't hear me complain.