Friday, February 29, 2008

Registration at the Arcata Community Center, Saturday, March 1st from 9 to 1.


Representatives from the Mad River Girls Fastpitch Softball Association will be on hand to register players for our 2008 Spring Season on Saturday, March 1st at the Arcata Community Center from 9am through 1pm.

Registrations may also be mailed to the league at any time between now and April 5th, or brought to our assessment day, scheduled for Saturday, April 5th at the HSU Field House from 11:30-4:00. A downloadable registration form is available here.

Our spring recreational league is open to all girls ages 7 through 16 in the Arcata, McKinleyville and the surrounding communities. Our league is the only league in the area solely dedicated to girls' fastpitch softball. We are affiliated with ASA, the Amateur Softball Association, the governing body of American fastpitch softball. All our coaches are certified by the ASA. Our season runs from early April through the end of the school year.

We are organized into four divisions based on the player's age on December 31, 2007:

The 8 & Under "Rookie" Division is for 7 & 8 year old beginning players is the foundation of the league. Players are given positive instruction in basic softball skills and the essentials of how the game is played. It is a non-competitive program where the coaches do the pitching and the umpiring for the games.

Our 10 & Under Division introduces players to their first year of fastpitch softball pitching. Pitching rules are modified to keep the games flowing, and beginning players are encouraged to join.

The 12 & Under division continues the development of the players' individual skills in a positive team environment. The game speeds up as we add in basestealing and bunting skills, but is still well-suited for first time players.

In the 16 & Under division, while still a recreational program, additional emphasis is placed on getting our middle-school players ready for their High School season, and providing lots of additional playing time for the High School JV players. (Our spring season coincides perfectly with the end of local JV seasons.) The focus remains however, on building a love of the game whether our players continue on to HS ball or play recreationally for the rest of their lives.

Sign up today! (Or tomorrow...as long as it happens before April 4th.)

We'll see you on the diamond.

Monday, February 11, 2008

A great day for softball! Images from our Winter Warm-up Clinic


Nearly 60 girls from ages 7 to 10 joined 8 Mad River coaches and 8 of our big sister all-stars for a Sunday afternoon of great softball instruction and way too much fun than we should be having in February. The League had full use of Humboldt State's spacious Field House for the entire afternoon. The players, several of them on on a softball field for the first time, enjoyed rotating 30 minute sessions on hitting, infielding, catching and throwing, baserunning and pitching. While the weather outside would've been perfect for playing on a real diamond, the roof over our heads didn't diminish the sunny smiles of our coaches, all-stars, and players. Our thanks to everyone who came out to play, and especially to our Big Sisters who gave up an afternoon to help teach the next generation of great Mad River Softball players how to play this wonderful game.


Now, just a few pictures of yesterday's fun:

Warming up.

Throwing & catching.

Line drive!

Snacks...of course.

The Wind-up.

Comin' home.

Our Big-Sister All-Stars

Remember, sign-ups are going on now and the season begins in early April. A 2008 registration form can be found with a simple click on the right of this page, or email us and we'll send you one.