Watching good pitchers compete on other teams in an Amateur Softball Association tourney a few summers ago in Maryland served as a motivating factor for Bangor High School softball player Emily Reilly.
“It made me want to work harder as a pitcher. I saw how hard they threw and how much spin they put on the ball and I wanted to be like that.
“It was a turning point in my career. It made me want to get better,” said Reilly, who considered the trip to Maryland as one of the highlights of her career, as did teammate Lilli Wiseman.
“When you see teams from different areas, you’ll see different styles of softball. It’s cool,” Wiseman said.
Reilly and Wiseman, along with many other youth softball players in Maine, have benefited from competing during the summer in ASA, which was founded in 1933 and is a non-profit organization that is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In Maine, ASA has enabled aspiring softball players to develop their skills against top competition, build long-lasting friendships and showcase their talents for college coaches. High school coaches also like the opportunity ASA provides to try new things and evaluate players.
ASA is, essentially, travel softball. In some instances, ASA teams are like all-star squads with players from several different communities on a roster. That also occurs if there aren’t enough players in one community to fill out a roster so they bring in players from nearby communities.
In Eastern Maine, the ASA teams that are for high school-aged players are mostly comprised of players from just their own town or high school. It serves as a feeder program for their high school team.
Fun on hot summer days
ASA has teams in all different age groups. Softball is played under the Little League banner in some communities up until the age of 12, but then many players turn to ASA. In other areas, there is no Little League softball so ASA is an available option.
There were 393 youth teams in the state under the ASA umbrella last summer.
Maine ASA is run by state commissioner Tony Gowell and eight other commissioners and it is funded by state tournaments and registration fees paid by umpires, players and teams.
Each community must raise its own funds, according to Gowell.
He said teams usually play approximately 30 games over the course of the season.
“It’s such a short season,” he said.
Men’s, women’s and coed leagues for fast-pitch and slow-pitch softball can also fall under the ASA umbrella.
Reilly and Wiseman, along with Brewer High School’s Sam Pellegrino and Delaney Davis, all had productive senior years at their respective high schools this past spring, and have enjoyed positive ASA experiences.
“ASA was, basically, my summer. I spent a lot of time on softball fields with my team, having fun on hot summer days,” said catcher Pellegrino. “ASA was huge. Without it, I wouldn’t have been prepared for going into high school [softball]. The tournaments we played in were very competitive, especially the state tournaments.”
Davis, a pitcher, loved the ASA games and was sad when they ended.
“From the end of school through July, we had a tournament every weekend. One summer, we did some fund raising and took a Cyr bus to the New England Tournament in Rhode Island,” she said. “It has been the highlight of my summers for many, many years. It was a lot of fun.”
Wiseman likes the chance to travel and hang out with teammates a bit more.
“My favorite thing about it is you got more individual interaction with the coach,” said Wiseman, Bangor’s starting right fielder and co-captain. “You were able to focus on stuff you needed to work on. You could spend extra time on it with the coach.”
Reilly, who pitched and started in left field for the Rams, said ASA was incredibly important.
“You learn important skills, it prepares you for high school softball and I’ve got life-long friends I’ve known since we started playing together when we were 9 years old,” she said.
“It really prepares you as a team, not just as players,” Reilly added.
“It builds those bonds and relationships, on and off the field, before you even get to high school,” Pellegrino said. “We had 10 seniors this season and we pretty much all played summer ball together [for several years].”
University of Maine women’s softball head coach Lynn Coutts used to coach ASA in the Portland area.
“If you want to get to the highest level you can, you have to play the best. Hitters see better pitchers in ASA and pitchers face better hitters,” said Coutts.
Bucksport High School coach Mike Carrier, a former ASA coach in Bucksport, said sometimes an opponent is far superior, but explained that becomes a valuable learning tool.
“You might get pounded on a little bit but your players will see what they need to do to compete against better teams. It makes them better,” said Carrier, who still helps out with pitching and will offer other coaching expertise “if they call me.”
Softball showcase
ASA enables the high school-age players to showcase their talents.
“It really gives kids an opportunity to get seen by college coaches,” said former Bucksport High School and University of Maine standout Terren Hall, the head coach at Bangor’s Husson University. “College coaches don’t get a chance to see many high school games.”
Hall remembers playing in an ASA Tournament in Devens, Massachusetts.
“Seeing all those college coaches watching you play and having some of them come up to me and tell me that I did a great job really was eye-opening. It was incredible. I knew ASA was going to bring me to the next level,” said Hall. “Now I get a chance to recruit players.”
Hall is UMaine’s career leader in homers with 35 and owns several other hitting records.
ASA does help a player become more well-known, according to Deb Colpitts, a former Hermon High School standout who just finished her softball career at Husson where she pitched, played first base and was a designated player.
“ASA was very helpful. You got to travel, play better competition and be involved with those recruiting weekends [by playing in showcase tournaments],” she said.
Traveling to tournaments that are held in other states is extremely beneficial, according to Coutts, “because a lot of college coaches won’t come up to Maine to look at players.”
Bangor High softball coach Don Stanhope said the bonding that occurs is crucial.
“Traveling, staying in hotel rooms, having a Saturday night pizza party by the pool or in a picnic area builds a level of trust that you rely on during the high school season,” he said.
The travel can be extensive but it doesn’t have to be because there are a number of age-group teams in each area that face each other.
Coutts said her ultimate goal as an ASA coach was to develop the players so they could go on to play college softball “and find the right fit for them in college.”
The players know when they travel to play highly-skilled teams, there is going to be a learning curve.
“As a pitcher, you have to hit your spots. If you just throw the ball down the middle, it’s going to get hit,” said Colpitts.
Time to experiment
High school coaches who also coach ASA have the opportunity to experiment during the summer months.
“It gives us a chance to look at kids in different positions and in different spots in the batting order,” said Stanhope, who also coaches a Bangor age group ASA team in the summer. “You don’t have all the pressure on you that have during the high school season.”
Stanhope indicated a coach is able to evaluate future players through ASA.
“You don’t get much chance to watch the [junior varsity] games during the high school season,” he said.
Brewer High School coach Skip Estes, who also coached ASA, said the ASA program in the summer is “really valuable for pitchers.
“They develop because they’re able to put more time in,” said Estes. “It also helps the hitters.”
ASA also gives high school coaches a chance to see which players are dedicated to the sport.
“It separates the good players from the great players,” Hall said.