Moving to new league after 10 years..

TheKid33

Star Player
I’ve had my team in one league since 2012. The last 2-3 years we had been the only team remaining in that league from back then. A lot of memories, a lot of wins, a lot of losses, a league championship, a playoff championship, a few runner up trophies (yes I count those bc we worked hard for them lol), and a lot of friends made in that league.

Since 2020 a new LD took over and that league went from a the best Rec league around to a tournament team league. Right now I have in my opinion one of the best groups of guys I’ve ever had on one team, overall. But we are a Rec team, make no mistake about that.

After opening up our spring season 0-10 (yikes) this year, we knew it was time to take our team to a different league where the LD actually does their job and regulates things. We finished 4-13, still ****ty but after that start it felt good to have a winning record over our last 7 games. It wasn’t enough to make me want to stay though.

Tonight we begin our journey in a new league about 15-20 minutes drive away from our former league. This league is a pure Rec league. No tourney players allowed. I’m looking forward to having a fun season with a lot of competitive games. And hopefully at the end of it walking out with another league or playoff trophy, or if we’re lucky enough, both.

I’ll update this thread every week and whenever else something team related pops up. Thanks for following along 🍻

Edit: also, if you care to you can follow our team’s IG @brewcrew.gc
 

ImminentDanger

Up and Over
Since 2020 a new LD took over and that league went from a the best Rec league around to a tournament team league. Right now I have in my opinion one of the best groups of guys I’ve ever had on one team, overall. But we are a Rec team, make no mistake about that.
So what happened to all the 2019 teams? Did they all leave for 2020? If they are still in the league, why weren't all the NEW Tournament Teams put in a higher division to play against each other?

Or was the league dwindling because a lot of those pre-2020 teams left for their own reasons and the league was about to collapse, therefore needed new teams to keep it going?

%%%
 

TheKid33

Star Player
Covid messed a lot up for 2020 and the new LD just wanted to fill the league I guess. It was 12 teams in summer of 2020, half were tourney teams. That caused some of the existing Rec league teams to leave the league, and the ones that stayed slowly dropped out in the following sessions. By this spring it was my team and 6 tourney teams, and one other legit Rec team. Both of our teams dropped and it is now a 6 team league, the same 6 tourney teams that were in spring.

2021 was a real crap show because they actually had 12 teams still and the talent levels were so obvious that they could have made 2 separate divisions but the LD didn’t put in any effort. That was the writing on the wall to the Rec guys.
 

BigWhiffa

Underwear Researcher
we live in a metropolitan area that 15 years ago had at least 7-8 various municipalities with adult softball programs. today thats probably cut down to like 4 and options are very limiting. they began to mix the A league nights with like D league nights and the D leagues stopped playing.

one city took one of the oldest lasting church leagues in the state and combined it with another competitive league. the church league was actually growing and seeing a resurgence so it left everyone pretty confused. but the other league was the one that was dying. it only had 4 teams (because the 4 teams still in were pretty insufferable to play against) The other teams literally blew the church teams out of the water. so next year, most of the church teams didn't come back. so it was a league of 4 take it too serious teams vs 2 church teams and horrible.

this is all prior to covid. today there is only 1 night of adult softball (used to be 3) and the mens league is 5 teams.

thats just one example as we had our USSSA fields shut down and turn into like a truckstop (The Dugout in IA), and other parks can't even find enough umps.
 

TWmccoy

3DX Connoisseur
Slowpitch is definitely experiencing hard times. I've seen a LOT of negative signs lately. Most of the leagues around here are still full of teams, though there is a slight downward trend in overall participation. Some parks that used to operate steadily M-F have cut a couple nights.

There is a ton of parity among teams, and many league directors don't even know how to properly class teams anymore. You have quite a few established teams. These may not even be great players, but they've all been around a while and know how things work. These teams can hold their own in pretty much any league. Then you have the absolute dilettantes, those who have never played before and take nothing about softball seriously. Honestly, these are the teams that aggravate me most as a player and an ump. These idiots (yes, I will call them idiots) don't have a clue about anything. They show up late, and expect me (ump) to wait for them. They disregard bat rules, play music loudly, and basically treat the evening like a drunken party that just happens to involve softball. These teams almost never win, and can get bitchy/confrontational toward me or other teams. These newer teams just generally operate with a complete lack of softball decorum, and also will forfeit/no show without calling anyone. I see a LOT of forfeits these days. Nothing pisses a team off more than for them to show up ready to go at game time only to find that the other team couldn't be bothered to do the same.

Stuff like this is slowly making the established teams quit leagues. I know a LOT of longtime players who have basically given up on league because they're sick of dealing with drama every week, and sick of kicking the crap out of a bunch of lollygaggers who aren't taking anything even remotely seriously.

Also, there seems to be a revolving door of parks employees and league directors. Increasingly, I'm seeing people put in charge of leagues who really don't have a clue about slowpitch softball. These are usually younger college grads who have a degree in athletic management or some such thing. Slowpitch is merely one of several sports they're hired to oversee. This has led to a noticeable erosion in the overall quality of league softball. You end up with an inexperienced, overworked person who simply doesn't know how to deal with all the nuances of running a successful league. Teams end up mis-classified, umpires quit (usually due to lack of communication or scheduling problems), and field maintenance suffers.

Field maintenance is another thing I've seen dramatically slip in recent years. IDK if parks districts are operating under tighter budgets, or if they're just stuck with entry level peon workers, but the overall condition of softball fields has never been worse. Batter's boxes are trenches, infields are basically concrete with a minute layer of gravel on top. Fields are under or over watered. Outfields become swamps or deserts. Foul lines are crooked or nonexistent. Scoreboards work sporadically. Field lighting is spotty, trash and beer cans litter the park, and the parking lots of softball complexes have become sprawl areas for homeless people. The overall atmosphere at softball fields has simply become gloomy/dismal. None of the parks employees seem to take any pride in keeping the park itself nice.

Lastly, finding people to ump slowpitch has become nearly impossible. Several parks in the Denver area contract out to various companies that provide sports officials. This is new, as every park district used to hire their own umpires. These contract umpires are often subpar, and they're umping at parks/leagues they may not be familiar with. As a league player, I've found that you have about a 50/50 shot of getting an ump who has half a clue. Also, sometimes the umps you DO get act like they'd rather be doing anything else. Increasingly few people want to stand around for 55 minutes being bitched at by a bunch of drunken man-children. This goes back to the whole softball decorum thing. Players nowadays think they can act however they want at the fields with no consequence. It's become commonplace for umps to be bullied into submission by crass, overbearing blowhards.

I feel like the Denver metro area has a fairly healthy softball community, but there are definitely signs of rot. Most of this lies with the players, but I do think league directors and parks districts are also somewhat to blame. It's easy to go "league hopping" looking for the best league at the best parks. Sometimes the grass really is greener, but most of the time I see the same problems anywhere I play.
 
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BigWhiffa

Underwear Researcher
you have hit on a ton of things, that I see going on here too. so my guess is its everywhere. even the younger umps are like its gotten noticeably different from like even a few years ago. I would say that you are definitely right. It seems that none of the areas around here have park/league directors who know what they are doing. 2 years ago we played in a league that was all double headers. they somehow figured a way to get teams with mostly 1 hour breaks in between games. we were like there has to be some mistake and the director was like, it was intentional to give you time to rest in between games.
 

TheKid33

Star Player
Update after week 1:

First off, we have not played since June 30th due to a schedule conflict at our league’s complex. A huge and annoying oversight on behalf of the league director, and our June 30th games were not even at our complex either. But I’m happy they found a way to get us some games in so we didn’t have to wait until the 21st of July to begin our summer session. Truth is, I personally needed the last 3 weeks off with family stuff and the Fourth of July holiday, and I’m just getting over having coronavirus for the last few weeks as well.

Anyhow, on to the games. We played one of the better team’s in this league that have been in the league for a few years or so. We split with them.

Game 1 we went down 7-2 after the top of the 2nd (we were home team). My team was in the field it was clear everyone was putting too much pressure on themselves and the conversations going on were full of excuses quite frankly there was a panicky vibe. Until I told everyone to “shut the hell up and play ball”.

I led off the bottom of the 2nd and put my $$ where my mouth is as the EH with a lead off single which started the 5 run inning to tie the game, and we never looked back winning 18-9.

Game 2 we lost 10-8 which is frustrating because I believe we’re a clearly better team, but half the team started to try and hit home runs and it cost us the game. The only positive is everyone agreed with me about that and I know I’ve got a group of guys who are going to buy into the small ball game plan going forward. And I guess at least we don’t have to worry about the pressure of carrying an undefeated record late into the season 😂😂😂

But seriously, it was totally noticeable the difference between our new league and old one. I told my guys I make no guarantees but I view our team as the favorite in this league. Let’s hope I’m right!

Thanks for following along! 🍻
 

TheKid33

Star Player
I should also mention, the league we were in before used gold dot extremes, and the league we are in now uses some **** ball I think called “blue dot” (not positive).

Some of the guys were complaining about it but really it doesn’t make a difference to me as a line drive hitter personally bc both teams are using it. This was the reason our team’s attempts to hit the long ball were unsuccessful and I’m stressing everyone to focus on hitting line drives.
 

TWmccoy

3DX Connoisseur
I should also mention, the league we were in before used gold dot extremes, and the league we are in now uses some **** ball I think called “blue dot” (not positive).

Some of the guys were complaining about it but really it doesn’t make a difference to me as a line drive hitter personally bc both teams are using it. This was the reason our team’s attempts to hit the long ball were unsuccessful and I’m stressing everyone to focus on hitting line drives.

Blue Dots are better/hotter than Gold Dot Extremes.
 

TheKid33

Star Player
Blue Dots are better/hotter than Gold Dot Extremes.
Ah. Yeah it’s definitely the other way around then, or I just have the wrong name of the ball. Been playing 10+ years and I still don’t pay much attention to that stuff lol
 

bimmerpilot

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some of the guys were complaining about it but really it doesn’t make a difference to me as a line drive hitter personally bc both teams are using it. This was the reason our team’s attempts to hit the long ball were unsuccessful and I’m stressing everyone to focus on hitting line drives.
We play Open Fields (unfenced) in my league and some hitters still have the mindset to try and beat an OF that's already at 300'
 

blakcherry329

Well-Known Member
I played in a league in the 90's that had open fields. I always loved jogging back and catching that 340 foot out in LF. 😂
That's all we had in NNJ. When we played on a field with a fence, we were drooling. And, usually, because we didn't play on fenced in fields a lot, everyone would be popping up trying to jack one out instead of just swinging normal like when they flied out 300' away. smh
 

Redsfan

Well-Known Member
That's all we had in NNJ. When we played on a field with a fence, we were drooling. And, usually, because we didn't play on fenced in fields a lot, everyone would be popping up trying to jack one out instead of just swinging normal like when they flied out 300' away. smh
We had the same problem when we played in tourney's. First game we always hit terrible and our big guys killed us with their pop ups. You wouldn't believe the amount of times we lost our first game and then came back to win the tournament through the losers bracket. If we could have just won that first game we would have cut the number of games we had to play almost in half.
 

ImminentDanger

Up and Over
I could never seem to get the big hitters on my team to understand that unless you need one run to win with a guy on 2nd or 3rd,
hitting a 295' fly ball is no more effective than dribbling one to the pitcher.

Of course, as a pitcher, I love messing with the big hitters on the opposing team to get them to pull one foul for an out, or throw a deep, high strike (after several low balls or strikes) to get them to swing up for a 295' out. However, you always gotta watch for that good high pitch hitter that will rocket a come-backer that is headed thru you to reach 295'.

As to leagues,

Far too few players participate with the league managers or park maintenance to educate them on the best practices that make for a successful league and venue. It's really a two-way street, because the park or league often will spurn efforts by players to be involved. It should be a joint effort to create opportunities where both the management & the players can work together for the betterment of the situation. A management attitude of protecting one's turf (minor pun) or as a player being too lazy to be part of the solution will likely keep the downward slide going (ending short of the bag).

%%%
 

TWmccoy

3DX Connoisseur
had a league a while ago that had one week where the complex had something going on so everyone was relocated. fences went from 315 to 285. played against a young team and they all saw it as an opportunity to finally hit one out. i think they scored 1 run all game lol


I see lots of people absolutely CHOKE on short fences. They think it's so easy to hit a HR that they forget everything about hitting and start taking brute hacks at the ball, trying to lift it over the lights. Popups or grounders for days.
 

TheKid33

Star Player
Update after our 2nd week of play. We are now 3-1.

First game we won 21-10. Our defense probably gave them 4 runs.

Game 2 we won 21-4. Not much explanation needed here. Very young and inexperienced team that had a few players who look like they’ll be good eventually.

The team is gelling right now and I haven’t felt this good about our chances since we won the championship in our old league in 2019.
 

BigWhiffa

Underwear Researcher
had a league a while ago that had one week where the complex had something going on so everyone was relocated. fences went from 315 to 285. played against a young team and they all saw it as an opportunity to finally hit one out. i think they scored 1 run all game lol

This happened to us. we went from 295 to 275. just for a week. we are all mostly old so while we can, we are all ok hitting singles/doubles. I would say 75% of us if tried to hit a hr would be successful more times than not. league around here you get 3 or 4.

So we got moved to that field for a week and played a team that was a lot of younger guys. they used all of their hr's in the first inning. probably 3 hrs and 4 runs to show for them. the next 6 innings they probably made 12 of the 18 outs as DBO's. it was hilarious. we had 1 inning that was 3 DBO's in a row. the guy running the team was an older guy who was livid.
 

TWmccoy

3DX Connoisseur
This happened to us. we went from 295 to 275. just for a week. we are all mostly old so while we can, we are all ok hitting singles/doubles. I would say 75% of us if tried to hit a hr would be successful more times than not. league around here you get 3 or 4.

So we got moved to that field for a week and played a team that was a lot of younger guys. they used all of their hr's in the first inning. probably 3 hrs and 4 runs to show for them. the next 6 innings they probably made 12 of the 18 outs as DBO's. it was hilarious. we had 1 inning that was 3 DBO's in a row. the guy running the team was an older guy who was livid.

I'd rather play on a 320' field than 275'. Say what you will, but 275' is just too small. Regardless of what ball you use, you'll see a ton of DBOs. I'd rather see guys take full swings on a big field than take check swings trying to keep it in on a small field.
 

Hiltz

Built for comfort
I'd rather play on a 320' field than 275'. Say what you will, but 275' is just too small. Regardless of what ball you use, you'll see a ton of DBOs. I'd rather see guys take full swings on a big field than take check swings trying to keep it in on a small field.

We only have 250-260ish fields around here. Went from composite to wood bat this season and everybody is already grumbling because "nobody can hit a homerun and it isn't competitive." Teams are threatening to pull out if we don't go back to composite next year.

250' fence with .52's and nobody can hit a homerun...
 

Hiltz

Built for comfort
It is fun. We play double-headers and I usually average 2-3 hr's a night, a couple teams have a batter or two that'll do the same. But we have so many unathletic whiners that used to hit 265' homeruns with untested composite that suddenly can't hit anything... rather than admit that they aren't as good as they thought, they want their juiced bats back.
 

bimmerpilot

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is fun. We play double-headers and I usually average 2-3 hr's a night, a couple teams have a batter or two that'll do the same. But we have so many unathletic whiners that used to hit 265' homeruns with untested composite that suddenly can't hit anything... rather than admit that they aren't as good as they thought, they want their juiced bats back.
Sadly (personally speaking) even with a juiced stick I’d be hitting just as crappy.

I’ve got to make a few adjustments, right now 1 game out of playoffs to make the tweaks.

The number of one-trick ponies I see is laughable. Playing open field and people still trying to clear the OF playing deeper than 300
 

TWmccoy

3DX Connoisseur
We only have 250-260ish fields around here. Went from composite to wood bat this season and everybody is already grumbling because "nobody can hit a homerun and it isn't competitive." Teams are threatening to pull out if we don't go back to composite next year.

250' fence with .52's and nobody can hit a homerun...

250' with wood and .52s should equal plenty of HRs. Now, if it were 250' and classic Ms you wouldn't see any.

I hate to say it, but wood bats are the only real answer for a field that short.
 
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