Fastball St. Albert Association News

Photos Needed

Have you been taking digital photos at recent games? Would you be interested in adding them to the website? If so, please click here to contact Dani Beaubien.

Updated rules for Mites and Coach Pitch Divisions

In an effort to make the game more fun for kids and exciting for the parents, Fastball St. Albert is revising the rules for Mites and Coach Pitch and introducing the Home Run Line as well as eliminating walks. This will have a huge impact, especially in the Mites Division. More batters will get contact with the ball and more fielders will have the action that they all crave. Click here to download the PDF for compelete information on the new rules.

Registration FAQ

Click here to see the Registration FAQ page for the 2008 fastball season.

2009 Annual AGM - Nov 12th

I invite you to attend our Annual General Meeting(AGM) being held on Wednesday, Nov. 12th at the St. Albert Inn starting at 7:00pm.

The agenda for the meeting is:
- Existing directors will be providing reports on the 2008 season,
- Nomination and election of new members, and
- Open dicussion.

We are always looking for new board members. The commitment is not large, just a few hours per month. Please consider attending the meeting and, perhaps, let your name stand as a board member or just as a volunteer. We need your help. If you are unable to attend on this date, please email us for further information on how to join our team.

Our committment is to keep fastball a positive choice for your children and their friends, and once they have made that choice, to make it enjoyable.

We will be having another Winter Skills Camp. Last year's was widely successful and it was fun for all those that participated. The details are still being worked out but it looks like the clinic will be starting shortly after the New Year. Stay tuned for more details.

We hope to see you at the AGM, and for sure, next year at the ball diamond.

Introduction to Fastball

Fastball or softball is a variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented in 1888 in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, softball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' baseball. The name softball was given to the game in 1926. A tournament in 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair spurred interest in the game. The International Softball Federation regulates rules of play in more than 110 countries, including the United States and Canada. Women's fast-pitch softball has been an Olympic sport since 1996.

Despite the name softball, the ball is not soft. It is about 11 or 12 inches in circumference (depending on the age division and is sometimes larger for slow-pitch), which is 2 to 3 inches larger than a baseball. The infield in fastball is much smaller than in baseball; each base is a maximum of 60 ft from the next (distances are lower for younger age groups), as opposed to baseball's 90 ft. Fastball rules vary somewhat from those of baseball. Two major differences are that the ball must be pitched underhand - from a distance typically 15 to 20 ft shorter than those used by baseball - and that seven innings instead of nine constitute a regulation game.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2004 Columbia University Press.

Notices

St. Albert Facility Line

The City of St.Albert maintains a telephone service (Facility Line 459-1568) which provides the status of the ball diamonds in the city. If the weather has been uncooperative, the city will not allow use of the ball diamonds. Please call the line after 4:00 pm to confirm that the diamonds are in playable condition. No exceptions to the City directive.