Malta Co-Ed Softball League kicks off

Last year the Malta Co-Ed Softball League was a small group with enough players to field just a couple of teams. This season the league will feature five local teams that will play two games every Tuesday for the next four weeks, with playoff rounds following.

The teams featured are Young's Flooring Covering Team, R & G Quality Feed Team, Judd / Thompson Team, Anderson / Yeadon Team and the Malta Recreation Team.

"Last year was just kind of seeing the interest with social media and kind of getting it out there," Jo Tharp, the league's original founder said. "This year we had the Parks and Recreation Board that was formed and they helped out a lot."

Tharp gave credit to Julia Tatafu, the Parks and Recreation Board and a brand new Softball Committee for a lot of the ground work.

"Parks and Recreation is a great thing for the community," Tharp said. "We just kind of came together and consulted."

Tharp mentioned that the committee was a small group that helps make fast decisions without too much input.

"It's easier to bounce ideas off of each other and get things done rather than having to go through ten, fifteen people," Tharp said.

The league's five week regular season was supposed to kick off Tuesday, July 12 however it was rained out due to a barrage of storms Phillips County experienced the day before. A makeup game was played last Monday.

Games will be played on Tuesday nights at 6:30 on Trafton Parks North baseball fields. Two games will be played beginning at the same time.

The length to the games will be seven innings unless coaches and players decide to play longer or a tie breaking inning is needed.

The league will feature players of all experience levels.

Each team will have to field a five men to five women ratio and up to 12 players. The teams will alternate a men and women batting order. If a male batter is walked, the female batter will have the option to be automatically walked or bat.

All pitching will be underhand. Players need to be at least 18 years of age.

The league is taking a step into a more competitive game; however the league players are encouraged to make the game a fun experience.

"That's what the whole league is about fun," Tharp said. "There will be a lot of competitive people but you will always have competitive people."

Teams will need to notify the City Hall in order to schedule practices.