Natchez-Adams Girls Softball has been here for the girls in the Miss-Lou for many years. As a matter of fact, I played in this same league when I was a young girl. And the rewards I gained from that experience has stayed with me all my life.

This year after a few years of not having any teams play tournament ball, we switched league affiliations to Dixie Girls Softball. In years past, we have had many tournament teams from Natchez Adams Girls Softball League to win many state titles in all age groups and place in the top five at a world tournament, and even had a team win the world title once.

This is quite an accomplishment for a town of our size.  We also hosted many tournaments here in Natchez. In tournament ball, we play a two- to three-day tournament — usually on a weekend and play until you lose two games. If you win that tournament or a state title, you usually qualify for the world tournament. We would play all spring and summer long. But with the changes in the economy for many years, we haven’t had the interest there for tournament ball. So basically, our girls have not had the opportunity to go and play for state or world. With Dixie Softball, we have district and the top two teams advance to state. If you win at that level, you advance to world.

This year, our girls in all age groups played district and state. We are very proud of the outcome for our first year of participating in All-Stars. Our “sweetes,” which is our babies of the league, T-ballers had a great year. They placed second in their district even though when they arrived, they found out that actually they were pitched to instead of hitting off a tee. These girls went on to state and played in the championship game and placed second. Talk about a great first year. Our “darlings” won their district and advanced to state and had a great tournament. Our “ponytails” came in third at their first state tournament. The older girls, “the belles,” hosted their district here (wouldn’t it be nice to have a new complex to play these tournaments in?) and had a good time at their state and last but not least our “angels” won their district, went undefeated at state and represented our town of Natchez at the world tournament in Myrtle Beach, S.C. What a great way to start out our first year of All-Stars.

Being affiliated with Dixie Softball is what makes it possible for these girls to play at this level.

Many of the girls in the Miss-Lou have played in our league, and we are very proud of how much many of them have accomplished. We hope to see many more girls grow through the league and enjoy the opportunity of playing softball.

Congratulations to our first year of All-Stars, and we hope to see our league grow and be here to stay with the extension of our league by playing on the All-Star teams. You make us proud.

 

Belinda Brashier is a board member of the Natchez-Adams Girls Softball League.