Cards, you talk about GMC & how things were......Middletown probably had the best Rec program going! They used to have all kinds of teams playing slow pitch & Rag ball. And they continued on that path when everyone switched to fastpitch. Their high school program has severely suffered because of that for the last decade!
You start off with T-ball, then coach pitch (train the girls to hit a straight line pitch), then kid pitch. No different then a boy learning to play baseball. I take it to be a sexiest thing saying more girls would play at younger age if it was slow pitch.
Thunder you are correct about communities with schools that are similar to the GMC and GWOC needing to play fastpitch "if that is what the ladies want to play in HS". However they do not all need to do it at a travel level. If they want to pitch and be competitive in these conferences you also need several ladies getting private pitching instruction.
You are right Middletown has not had a winning season in over a decade but Middletown in the early to mid 2000s did have fastpitch with B level teams and events but the HS never seen any benefit. I think because the fastpitch softball players went to parochial schools.
The OP was talking about communities in rural areas or like the ones feeding the CMAC and many MVC conference schools in SW Ohio that have the issues the original poster alluded too and would benefit from ladies just playing rec. ball of some kind preferably fast pitch but slow pitch would not hurt them either.
I was asked to go to a lockland-St Benard Elmwood place game a couple years back by one of our students. Trust me it is not fastpitch that many on this board are use to seeing.
It is slow pitch with 9 players and I mean that literally. They had 9 on the field and one or two on the bench. The ladies did have fun, cheered each other on in a score fest with both teams scoring over 20 runs.
I remember a D1 playoff game at Colerain vs. vs.West High a CMAC school where they showed up with 9 and asked if the girl in a west high t-shirt could be sub/pinch runner, (She was also the first base coach).
During warm ups the umpire told the coach her pitcher could not pitch like that and the coaches response was she is all we have. The umpire consulted with both coaches and they allowed her to slow pitch the game and the other to sub it was ugly.
Middleton, Hamilton, Fairfield and Colerain at one time had very strong recreational programs they are all now almost non existent especially over the past five years.
Middletown and Colerain its not due to travel/select ball taking kids away they just are not playing in general. At Colerain tryouts have dropped from having 60+ trying out to the 40s. Middletown is also struggling with numbers in all sports.
Hamilton/Fairfield travel play could be a factor with a small % leaving their rec. leagues with the Hawks, Magic and other travel organizations pulling from the rec. leagues.
Colerain TWP has 16 of some of the nicest fields/ball parks in the city/state that sit almost unused. All are regulation 200 or 300 ft and the boys baseball AA park with the wide 400ft center fences covered concrete dugouts, restrooms etc..
I have been working with a township trustee to try to get more park utilization including summer youth activities around softball and baseball but its a slow go.
The TWP actually turned one of the Harbin Park fields into a dog park at the beginning of the summer...Dimonds for Dogs
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/ne...colerains-heritage-park-going-dogs/502694002/
I would add a number 6 to wical_29 list and that is cost.
While rec is considerably cheaper than travel the rec. league fees in 2011 were $110 and the family had to sell another $100 in gift cards to play 12/15 games. If they had more than 2 kids playing parents did get a $35 break on each additional kid but that still adds up.
The issues are many and each community has unique and common problems to get kids back involved on outdoor sports.