In July of 2022 I did the PA for a state championship softball tournament at Garrett Park in Willow Street, it was a throwback for me to my formative years in the 1970s on the mic for the area rec league at Bing Conlin Field in Lancaster. I had been contacted about that tournament by a member of the Southern End Men's Fastpitch League which plays its games at Garrett Park, being there that weekend (for lack of a better way to describe it) rekindled an old flame within me that had not burned for decades. The league released its schedule recently, Wednesday was Opening Night. There are six teams in the league, most nights feature two games at 7:00 and 8:30. A strange quirk on this night was that both games featured one particular team, in the opener Peach Bottom beat LCM, in the nightcap LCM defeated the Marlins. Thursday night featured two games with the three remaining teams making their season debut, Memorial won over Kelly's and Peach Bottom beat Riverside. Fastpitch softball was a huge deal in my time at Conlin Field, back then the weekend tournaments drew large crowds but these days there aren't as many fastpitch teams and leagues still around. I have no official function with the league at Garrett Park (they don't use the PA for the regular schedule), it's just a nice alternative to have available on nights when there is little else happening plus being outdoors in the fresh air is never a bad thing. Take care, thanks for reading.
