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Community Corner

Alpharetta Rec Commissioner Hopes Girls Slow Pitch Softball League Gets Support

Jim Cregge is leading the push for a league in the five North Fulton cities.

Two years ago Jim Cregge, chairman of the Alpharetta Recreation Commission, noticed that the Alpharetta Youth Softball Association (AYSA) was moving away from slow pitch softball and making their program all fast pitch.

While he believed it was their right to do so he did not think slow pitch was dead.

“Over the winter I kept thinking of ways I could do something.  I formulated in my head the idea of an inter city slow pitch league," Cregge said.

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"Slow pitch is not offered anywhere in the north Metro area, so I thought the North Metro area would probably be a good place to start," he said.

Cregge said Johns Creek has 80,00 residents, Milton 32,000, Alpharetta 55,000, Roswell 80,000 and Sandy Spring has more than 100,000.

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"With nearly a quarter million residents, half being female and one third of that number being of an age to play the game, I believed there was a pool of people who would play the game if it was offered somewhere,” said Cregge.

Cregge hopes that by offering a soft pitch league he can get girls recreating and revive the game of softball.

“Slow pitch is not offered anywhere and fast pitch is in decline,” he said.

This is something he hopes to chance and believes that 120 girls between the five cities would be a “viable starting point” to doing that.

“I want to demonstrate to the communities that make up the North Fulton area that there is a way that we can all work together for the mutual benefit of our citizens and not get into these out of city fees,” said Cregge.

He hopes that others will share his passion for a slow pitch league.

“There are some people who question “why slow pitch?” and they point to the fact that GHSA has dropped the sport.  My comment is this: Not every girl wants to play fast pitch.  Some just enjoy the socialization and recreation of being with their girl friends and playing ball.  And not every girl will make the high school squad." Cregge said.

He said AYSA is a viable option for fast pitch.  This is an option for those who just want to have some fun.

"Most important, when I sat down with the city department heads at the initial kick off meeting, I asked them, 'What is the name of your program? Are you the Parks and Recreation Department or are you the Parks and high school development Department?'", he said.

Cregge said as the chairman of the Alpharetta Parks and Recreation Commission, a volunteer citizen advisory board, he believes the responsibility as a city entity is to provide viable and safe programs for all for our citizens to enjoy our parks and recreate in them.

he asked"If slow pitch gets a group of young women out playing when they otherwise would not be doing this, have we not taken a step towards better serving our community?”

To gauge community interest citizens are encouraged to complete a survey. To provide more input, Cregge encourages residents to contact a local Parks and Recreation representative.

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