September 16, 2019
By: Bill Conger
“They’re feeling it,” says League facilitator Jordan Atnip, who is the Youth and Worship leader at Smithville F.B.C. “A lot of people played for years but they’re rusty or hadn’t played in a while because they’re adults. That’s who the league is for. There will be a learning curve with people learning what their bodies can do now versus last time when we had church league or anything like that.”
While all athletes weren’t quite back in the swing of things physically, their “soul” purpose was in place.
“The tone was what we wanted. We played against Church of the Nazarene, and they’re a great group of folks. We had fun. They had fun. They beat us. There weren’t any hard feelings, which is exactly what we were wanting. We’re here for the same thing. We’re here because we love Jesus, and we’re having a good time.”
For the first time in several years, Church League Softball cranked backed up at Bill Page Ballpark. Jo Ann Page threw out the opening pitch.
Ten teams around the county signed up for the season. That’s four teams more than anticipated. Games will be played until Halloween. A tournament is set for Saturday, November 9.
“We’re going to get churches to set up tents and give food out to the community, make it a community day…where they have the opportunity to be fed physically and spiritually,” Atnip says. “We’re going to have a tent set up out there and have worship going on and get some of the churches to provide their pastor to speak in between games.”
Atnip says next year organizers hope to grow church softball into a bigger league.