Is slow-pitch softball going away in Georgia? No. 1-seed Richmond Hill hopes not

This year’s tournament is Wednesday and Thursday at Twin Creeks Park in Woodstock. The 16-team double-elimination event will conclude with the championship game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, with another to follow at 7 p.m. if necessary.

Richmond Hill emerged as No. 1 in the power rankings used to determine the tournament seeds. The Wildcats view the seeding as an honor and are eager to test themselves at the state level. Coach Tiffany Gray even is bringing the team up a night before the tournament begins to make the travel less stressful.

“We play in an interesting area where our regular season is not as competitive as what we’re going to see over the next two days,” Gray said. “Being the No. 1 seed is something that we strive for.”

Most of the powers in the state can be found in the Cherokee County, Northeast Georgia and Middle Georgia. The widespread nature of the competition can make it difficult to find competition. Over the past seven competitions (the 2020 season was canceled because of COVID-19), Haralson County has won three times, Creekview (the defending state champion) has two twice, with West Laurens and Hart County winning the other two.

“Most of the competition is up in (North Georgia), so trying to get people to come to us and make room in their schedule is kind of a feat,” said Gray, whose school is located near Savannah.

Most of the girls who play fast-pitch softball in the fall play on the slow-pitch team in the spring, although a few are lost to lacrosse or other spring sports. Other girls stay away from slow-pitch out of fear it will hurt their swing, something Gray said is incorrect.

Other slow-pitch participants stay away from fast-pitch because they aren’t eager to step in the batter’s box to face a 70-mph pitch. Others take part in the slow-pitch game to improve their all-around skills.

But nearly all the girls who play slow-pitch softball do it because it is fun.

“I feel like it’s just a little less intimidating, even in the field,” Gray said. “We have found that getting out there in the spring — throwing, catching, hitting, just doing the fundamentals is really, really helpful for the development of the program.”

Georgia schools played slow-pitch until 2009 when the transition to the fast-pitch game began. The slow-pitch tournament was discontinued in 2009 and not resumed until 2017, with it returned as an open event not broken into classifications.

“I think it’s worth saving,” Gray said. “I think the girls find it’s less stressful, and they’re out there having fun. They enjoy coming to practice. Even when I tell them we can’t practice because it’s rained and the field is a swamp, they want to know where we can go, can we just throw out on the band field. The desire is so much more than it is during the fast-pitch season because it’s just more fun.”