The Edgewood Girls’ Softball League is entering its 45th season

Matt Metcalf, Assistant Sports Editor
Posted 1/29/15

The Edgewood Girls’ Softball League is entering its 45th season this year.

The league now has four divisions, including a tee-ball division, after the league started out with just one division, …

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The Edgewood Girls’ Softball League is entering its 45th season

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The Edgewood Girls’ Softball League is entering its 45th season this year.

The league now has four divisions, including a tee-ball division, after the league started out with just one division, ages 12-18, 45 years ago.

It is open to everyone, not just girls from the Edgewood area.

Edgewood currently contains players from all over the state, including Warwick, Cranston, Providence and Cumberland.

Although the league is competitive, everyone gets a chance to play. That way, every team member has the opportunity to contribute to their respective team.

“It’s good so girls aren’t sitting on the bench for the whole game,” Edgewood Vice President Tammy Williamson said. “We make sure we rotate our players.”

There are also some special needs players throughout the league, who also get the same opportunities as everyone else on the team.

“Everyone is included and everyone plays,” Edgewood Treasurer Laurie Lavey said. “It’s amazing to see the players rally around the special needs players.”

Edgewood practices and plays its games at Park View Middle School. The league runs from April through the end of June and Opening Day is slated for April 18 this year.

Edgewood makes its Opening Day as fun as possible, putting together a number of different events for the girls to compete in after its parade down Park Avenue. Teams compete in skills competitions, as well as running events and the always popular tug of war.

Edgewood also puts together all-star teams, but they don’t play teams from around the state.

Because they aren’t a fast-pitch league, Edgewood just takes a few players from each team and puts together two all-star teams that compete against each other. The league has an all-star game for every division.

“Everybody looks forward to that,” Lavey said. “Everyone usually gets a shot at all-stars at some point. If it’s a player’s last year in the division, then they generally get to go.”

However, the league has reached out to two or three slow-pitch leagues that still exist in the state to have an all-star tournament, but nothing is definite.

There are also other league-wide events, including a Breast Cancer Awareness weekend and an Edgewood girls’ softball golf tournament.

Lavey and Williamson have been around the league for quite some time. Edgewood is very much a generational league, as former players come back often and kids of former players often play in the league.

“A lot of our players are second generation,” Lavey said. “If I look down the line, there are so many where their moms played at some point.”

Lavey still has a daughter in the league and she spends the majority of her time at the field in the spring.

“My youngest that’s still playing lives there,” Lavey said. “She grew up there because I was coaching when she was born.”

Registration for the league is now open online at edgewoodsoftball.com. In addition to online registration, there are also four in-person registration days. The first is today at the Edgewood Congregation Church on Broad Street in Cranston from 6-8 p.m. There will also be an opportunity to register at the church on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The final two in-person registration periods at the church will be Feb. 5 from 6-8 p.m. and Feb. 7 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. An additional registration period will be held at Park View Middle School on Feb. 7 from 2-7 p.m.

Lavey also usually picks a day and goes to the Edgewood Girls’ Basketball League, which allows girls to sign-up for the softball league on the spot.

“We kind of feed off of each other,” Lavey said. “That’s how the basketball league started is off of the softball league. Now we always help each other out and it’s a lot of the same girls.”

Williamson added that the same goes for Edgewood cheerleading.

Although the league is slow-pitch, there have been a lot of players that have went on to play at the high-school level.

“There have been girls to play tee-ball and middles for us, before going on to fast-pitch,” Williamson said. “They go on to play high school, so obviously they learned the skills in our league to be able to move on and play at that level.”

It truly is a league for all types of skill levels – from those who want to take the next step and move on to the next level to those who just want the opportunity to play.

“We’re competitive, trust me, I like to win,” Williamson said while laughing. “But we have fun and everyone plays, which is all that matters. Sitting on the bench isn’t fun.”

For more information, those interested in playing in the league can visit Edgewood’s website.

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