This year, the Pea Ridge Youth Softball League celebrated over 15 years of slides, home runs and strike outs. The league was originally formed before 1995, as the Pea Ridge Girls Softball League, by an enthusiastic group of local Pea Ridge citizens who loved the values and game of softball.

Though the league has evolved over the last 15 years from its start with the game of slow pitch softball to the current fast pitch game, the league’soriginal goals of instilling the values of sportsmanship, honesty, respect and hard work, as well as, teaching the fundamentals and skills of softball remain the same.

In the spring of 2010, the Pea Ridge Youth Softball league grew to 10 teams. The league accepts players of all abilities and is constantly adding members to teams in the 6 and Under, 8 and Under, 10 and Under, 12 and Under, and 14 and Under age brackets. More than 100 girls participate in the league each spring and over 50 girls play during the fall season.

Over the years, Pea Ridge Youth Softball teams have enjoyed success in league games which are played in Bentonville and Pea Ridge, and in local and state tournaments. Current Pea Ridge softball league president, Rick Johnson, is quick to point out that while the league is proud of the teams’ athletic accomplishments, some of the most important benefits youthget by participating in softball are the values they learn about practice, perseverance and accountability, lessons they can carry with them through life.

Today, Pea Ridge Youth Softball is a legally registered Arkansas non-profit organization which appreciates the help of many volunteers and community sponsors. League teams participate in the Bentonville Youth Softball program which is part of the Amateur Softball Association, the national governingbody for softball in the United States.

Registration for the Pea Ridge Youth Softball 2011 spring season will be in late January. Dates and times will be advertised in The Times of Northeast Benton County and notices from the Pea Ridge Youth Softball League will be sent home with students in the Pea Ridge School district.

More information is available online at www.weplay.com/ groups/19146-Pea-Ridge-Youth-Softball.

Sports, Pages 9 on 12/15/2010