ARLINGTON – It’s a Wednesday evening, the sun is reflecting off a row of aluminum bats and a raucous crowd of players are cheering on their fellow teammates. It must be the annual summer softball league.
The Arlington Coed Recreation Softball League kicked off its season at Twin Rivers Park with four games on July 6. And there was no shortage of fans or excitement. The under-hand, slow-pitch format allowed for an expected hit-fest. In fact, you could hear the lime-green softballs coming off bats almost constantly on the two fields at Twin Rivers. The eight-team league plays each Wednesday for seven weeks. Games begin at 6 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
“There can only be eight teams in the league,” Arlington Recreation Manager Sarah Higgins said. “So at 9 a.m. on registration day the first eight teams to call got in. It’s first come, first served. And believe me, they started calling right at nine. To be fair to everyone I sent all the calls to voice mail and the first eight teams were registered.”
Unlike most sports, players don’t place a high price on the competitive side of the sport. It’s all about having fun. Overall team records are seemingly for bragging rights only. Teams aren’t eye-balling the playoffs or a league title. The reason is because there are no playoffs or trophies. The players get their fill after seven games, according to Higgins, who has been running the league for more than a decade.
“We play games until mid-August and then summer comes to an end. Players start to have other things to focus on,” Higgins said. “They have their fun and it’s a good time and then it’s over.”
For first-year team Krosswalk Krew, the season didn’t start off the way it would have liked. But for the Stillaguamish Tribe’s Just 4 Fun team, it set a milestone. After going winless in its first season in the league last summer, Just 4 Fun knocked off Krosswalk, 17-2. Despite the loss, there were no frowns to be seen by the Krosswalk players.
“We are out here to have fun and tonight was a blast,” Krosswalk coach Chris Kuehl said. “There’s no competition factor out here. If we want a trophy we will go out and buy one.”
The sentiment is shared by both teams. “Our name says it all,” Just 4 Fun coach Coey Gilleland said. “It’s nice to get our first win after losing all our games last season, but we are out here to laugh and have fun. And regardless of how this game could’ve turned out we would have still had fun.”
In the other games, Andrews Hay defeated Country Charm 12-2, Whitehorse edged Sticks n Chicks 12-10, and Woodinville Wine beat Cascade Valley Hospital 17-5.
