Rather than meet at the field behind the church, it's likely that many Utah men, women and teenagers who love slow-pitch softball will join a city recreation league, or a county team to get their fix during the summer months.__IMAGE__Members of the Salt Lake Area Sports committee want members to know that the church ball field is a great place to gather for safe, competitive softball within their wards and stakes, and a great way to facilitate friendships, sportsmanship and personal growth.Terry Miller, area softball specialist, held a clinic Saturday for sports leaders, umpires and other interested members from various wards, stakes, and regions. The clinic outlined some of the regulations and standards held to for church ball games. All the technical rules may seem__IMAGE3__ overwhelming to a local leader at first, but Miller said he and any other committee member would be glad to meet with local leaders, players, teams and umpires to provide training sessions. "If you want me to come to your region and do some training, I'll do it," said Miller. Not just any bat, for instance, will do. While aluminum, wood, and composite bats can be used, they must have have an Amateur Softball Association (ASA) stamp on them. ASA guidelines determine, among other things, bat speed. Softball bats which have the potential of hitting a ball faster than 98 miles per hour are prohibited. __IMAGE2__The adoption of ASA guidelines is all about safety, Miller said. That's why, for instance, there are two first bases, one within the field of play, and an orange "safety" plate just to the right of it, outside the foul line. Should a batter hit a ball infield that is picked up by a defensive player and thrown to first, the batter should run to the orange plate in order to get outside the line of fire. If wards don't have equipments that meets the current ASA standards, sports directors should contact their bishops to get proper equipment provided. Whether a given ward or stake has a Young Men team, Young Women team, men's team, women's team and co-ed team or one of each is up to that area's coordinating council. As with all church sports, members and non-members alike are invited to participate. Salt Lake Area Sports will hold a tournament this coming August 12-14 for teams that don't see much local competition throughout the summer season. Complete information about rule changes, co-ed rules, team line-up sheets, score sheets, lists of officials' duties, umpire signal charts, and bats that are prohibited from use can be found at utahareasports.org. ASA regulations can be found at ASAsoftball.com.For more information, or to request a member of the committee visit your area, e-mail: Utah.Area.Sports@gmail.com.
E-mail: mfarmer@desnews.com