AUBURN -There’s been a lot of talk about combining services in Lewiston and Auburn. The initial merger is about to become a reality involving the Twin Cities softball leagues. Lewiston and Auburn are combining men’s softball programs for the upcoming season.
According to Doug Beck of the Auburn Recreation Department, “Fewer people are playing softball. This merger will allow for better alignment of teams of like interest and abilities for improved play throughout the summer.”
The new league, to be named Lewiston-Auburn Softball, will be administered by a board of directors chaired by Tony Gowell, administrator for the Lewiston Rec League.
There’s a bit of disagreement as to how many divisions will be housed in the program.
“There will be two divisions of play,” said Beck, “an upper division for the stronger teams, and a regular division for the majority of teams. Auburn has about 4 teams that are head and shoulders above the pack. Lewiston has a similar situation. So it looks like we could have 8-10 teams in the upper division, and between 20-24 teams in the lower division,” he reasoned.
Gowell sees the possibility of 3 divisions. “We had 14 Lewiston teams register Wednesday night,” said Gowell. “I’m looking for the Twin Cities Division (the stronger clubs) to have 10 teams. I see another 10 in a Class D Division, and possibly 10 more teams in a Recreational Division, teams on the border of Class D but are more recreational,”
All play will be governed by ASA official slow pitch softball rules. Following are exceptions: 1. Lineups, batting order: a. Upper Division, managers decide before each game whether to bat per ASA rules or bat everyone present; b. Regular Division, straight ASA or entire lineup. 2. Courtesy Runner: the last person out from the previous inning is by default the automatic courtesy runner. 3. Home Runs: league will allow 3 homers, after which each additional HR will be an automatic out. 4. Stealing: a. Upper Division, stealing allowed; b. Regular Division, no stealing. 5. Ball: Worth Super Gold Dot is the official ball of both levels of play. 6. Residency Requirement: a simple majority of every roster submitted must be made up of Auburn and or Lewiston residents.
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