Okay...time for another rant about LL 'Softball'....
LL gets a break in several ways as far as softball is concerned:
That magical name : Tons of parents and local governments get suckered in by that Name. They figure that it MUST be good - because it is Little League; never mind that most of the communities in this area, the girls program is a poor second cousin to the boys. One community about 20 years ago got so fed up with that, they went and disenfranchised themselves from LL, and set themselves up as an ASA JO based organization. Our local ASA president also happened to be state UIC at he time, and was very instrumental in helping them get umps at reasonable fees, etc. Today, the league is loaded with cash, and gives their kids such a BIG advantage when they start school ball (NY hs softball follows ASA JO rules for the most part).
Fields: I dont know about anywhere else, but LL here has a STRANGLEHOLD on any decent fields - sometimes even when they are 'municipal' or 'town' parks - alternate leagues, tournaments have to BEG to use those fields..and usually end up paying through the nose to use school fields - none of which are cared for very well after school ends...
and you are so right greymule - the play level in most LL around here is BRUTAL - very few kids play either school ball and/or travel teams participate..and when they do, they do not hang around very long..
ok...some of the steam has escaped...thanks for listening....
