Wednesday Coed League Overcome

General Discussion of Topics Related to Individual Leagues
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sixofdiamonds
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Wednesday Coed League Overcome

Post by sixofdiamonds »

The game of coed softball is changing. It seems everywhere I turn, coed softball leagues are dwindling. It is getting more and more difficult to find girls that want to play the game. Why? I have absolutely no idea. I see this happening Nationwide. I see this happening in leagues across our region. I see this happening in SBA. Last year, in response to our dwindling Wednesday Coed league, I opened Wednesday evenings to a men’s league. From the summer of last year to the spring of this year, no less than 4 teams shifted from Wednesday Coed to Wednesday Men’s because of the trouble they were having getting girls to play. To compound the issue, this year we moved back to the pre-COVID eddie requirements of 4-4-3. As a result, we had exactly 4 Wednesday Coed teams left to play in the Wednesday Coed league. Of those remaining 4 teams, 3 decided they did not want to play a league with just 4 teams so they shifted to the men's league. Keep in mind, Wednesday Men’s is and shall remain a recreational men’s league. While teams in our Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday men's leagues can carry up to 7 all-stars, Wednesday Men’s teams can only carry up to 5. Last year, every Wednesday Men’s team had 2 or less all-stars with the exception of Tap Daddy’s which had 5 in the fall season. My guess is a solid coed team could make a good run in the Wednesday Men’s league which shall be known as the Wednesday Evening Open league moving forward. That’s how recreational it is.

This leads me to the subject of allowing girls to play in the men’s leagues. While I never mandated girls could not play in the men’s leagues, I implemented a serious deterrent-- any female that played men’s league ball would forfeit their status as a female eddie in the coed leagues. That rule is being rescinded for the Wednesday Open league. I haven’t yet decided if I will rescind it league wide. Penn Engineering is moving to Wednesday Open and they have a couple of girls on the team. The same holds true for Wu-Tang, Dingalingers, and I'm sure a few others. Girls will be allowed to play Wednesday Open without penalty. They will be able to use bats from the female column on the league bat list, but they will not get the luxury of a 2nd foul ball, eddie walk rule, eddie outfield cones or any other female eddie advantage. There is no such thing as an eddie in the men’s leagues with the exception of bat usage.

What's nice about the open format is it affords teams the choice of using girls, friends, relatives and/or co-workers without worrying if they are going to get hammered by super stacked teams. And, other than the all-star cap, there are no roster restrictions. With the all-star limit being capped at 5, teams won't be able to get to the point where league competition becomes severely compromised.
Flash
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Re: Wednesday Coed League Overcome

Post by Flash »

If I could voice my support for opening up female subs without sacrificing Eddy status to a league wide rule. No great reason other than it would probably help some of my teams in a pinch, especially during the summer seasons when more vacations are happening.
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