Batter up, Lake County guys and gals. Park district softball leagues are the health clubs of the `90s.
Come to softball diamonds across the county to see men strut their stuff and women show that they`ve got more than beauty and brains.
”Lake County is probably one of the fastest-growing softball areas in Chicago,” said Rob Carmichael, program supervisor for the Lake Forest Recreation Department.
Carmichael`s program and other softball programs countywide have recently enjoyed notable growth. Last year`s total of 38 Lake Forest teams has grown to about 50 this year for the summer and fall seasons, with an average of 15 active players on each team.
”Our numbers are up this year,” said Dave Kilbane, athletic supervisor for the Waukegan Park District. Waukegan, known for its excellent boy`s baseball program, also boasts one of the largest and most established softball programs in the county.
The park districts offer leagues for men and women, young and old and serious or social players. But what gets those die-hard male players out on the field three, four or sometimes five times a week?
”If you play a lot of high school sports, when you`re out of high school, reality hits. You`re not `Joe Athlete` anymore. Softball is a good way to stay in sports,” said Frank Lemanski, Deerfield Park District recreation supervisor.
”If you`re going for a good workout, softball isn`t it,” said Jeff Travis, a participant in the Deerfield 12-inch and co-recreational (male and female) softball leagues. ”It`s a chance to hang around with my college buddies that I don`t get to see too much anymore. To a certain extent, there is some male bonding involved.”
With all that male bonding going on, what happens to the female fans watching in the stands?
”Some of the guys start to hot dog a little when the girls come out. It`s not as if a lot of these guys can take women to their office and impress them with `look at this calculation,` ” said Travis, an engineer with ABB Impell, an architectural engineering firm in Deerfield.
Park district teams are generally sponsored by taverns, corporations and sometimes even churches. Teams sponsored by taverns get the added bonus of free beer at their sponsor`s establishments after the games.
Softballs come in different sizes: 16-inch, 12-inch, 11-inch and the 14-inch mushball, a softer variety.
Chicago is famous for 16-inch softball, played without gloves, but Chicago-style purists would be dissappointed to learn that the 16-inch game is dying out in Lake County. While park districts are reporting waiting lists for their 12-inch leagues, these same programs are abandoning their 16-inch leagues.
”Sixteen-inch is stronger in the city. It`s more of a baseball area around here. Twelve-inch is for guys who used to play baseball, or never did, and this is the closest they`ll get,” Carmichael said.
Not everyone in Lake County sings the praises of the 12-inch games.
”Some 16-inch players don`t consider 12-inch real softball,” Kilbane said. ”They think it`s for frustrated hardball players.”
The fastest-growing trend in Lake County is the expansion of the co-recreational leagues. Many park districts now offer co-recreational 14-inch mushball leagues. Some league organizers have found that softball may not be the only thing on the co-recreational players` minds.
”Our coed league seems to be growing the strongest,” Carmichael said.
”Softball is the new get-together, the new meeting place. There are a lot of people that are married as a result of the co-rec league. I`m engaged to someone I met in our coed league.
”There are a lot of people here that are new to the area. Co-rec softball gives them a chance to get to know some people. It`s like the `Love Connection.”`
Carmichael considers himself to be a modern-day matchmaker.
”When people want to join a co-rec team, I try to find out how old they are and how serious they are about playing softball. I put them on a team with other players of like age and interests. I`ve had pretty good success,”
Carmichael said. ”They tell me it`s better than the bars.”
Which is not to say that all Lake County players have romance on their minds when they are swinging the bat. Many players do take the sport very seriously.
”Some of these guys have been playing for years. It`s in their blood,”
Carmichael said.
Softball City, an outdoor softball complex in Hainesville, caters to these serious players. Softball City boasts four well-maintained diamonds, a pro shop, full concession stands and a sports bar. This business opened five years ago and is now turning away teams. Softball City hosts 250 teams that play on a regular basis and in countless tournaments.
Rather than taking away business from park district programs, Softball City may actually be contributing to the popularity of park district ball.
”Park districts aren`t hurting because of us,” said Matt Robinson, a Softball City manager. ”They may be doing better. We send them our overflow. We recommend park districts to teams that we turn away.”
”When Softball City opened up, we thought we would lose teams to them. I think it actually lures teams into the area. I would say that we might have picked up some teams by being near them,” said Kilbane of Waukegan.
Waukegan has created its own softball complex this summer. A new lighted diamond opened at Belvidere Park next to another lighted diamond.
”We built a second field to have all our softball in one part of town. What`s desirous is to build a kind of softball complex. We want to keep the softball centralized. That promotes tournament use, so outside organizations will come to Waukegan to play,” Kilbane said.
What does the future hold for softball in Lake County? Some park districts have already started extending their softball seasons through the fall. Can winter ball be far away?
”The adult softball craze is getting stronger everywhere. Some places are thinking of building indoor facilities so they could play all year. These people would play in the snow. The die-hards are biting at the bit to play whenever they can,” Carmichael said.
