My fastpitch professional and her designated driver, yours truly headed down for the Elysian Fields of softball on Sunday, leaving White Plains at 6 A.M., riding out with the sun.

We hit Pennsylvania by 8 A.M., rolling out I-78 through the steeltowns of Bethlehem and Allentown, hitting Interstate 81 and taking the big loop back east towards Maryland, avoiding the I-95 corridor crunch. What is impressive about the roadlife of fastpitch is that there really is a big America out there outside the malling of the metropolitan areas we live in. There are those fields of corn about half-high out in Pennsylvania about now. There still are majestic mountains, and actually two-lane highways, like Route 15 which we took down into Leesburg, where you have to keep your headlights on in the middle of the day to spot cars headed your way on the two-lane blacktop.

What you also learn about on the Fast Pitch Trail is that much of America now has the same stores everywhere, and at least in Leesburg, nobody much pays any attention to zoning. What we saw on our way into town was ancient Leesburg, a close-to-the-street main street kind of town with old square brick buildings which resembled architecture, then we hit route 7. Except there are three or four Route 7s…there’s the business district route 7, the main route 7, the 15-Bypass. They all take you past so many modern malls, massive apartment and town house complexes that line either side of Route 7 for miles and miles. The site of so much development is stunning. The streets are so confusing, that I only found our hotel, the Hilton Inn & Suites by looking back out my review mirror and spotting it on a driveby.

My player and I arrived at 11 on Sunday and got to our hotel by noon. We met up with members of the ball club and showed up at the welcoming ceremonies held in Franklin Park down Route 7 West about 25 minutes from where we were staying. State Troopers waved us into the park, and I saw an amazing site that reminded me of Woodstock: hundreds of cars parked in a pasture, and down beyond the cars were tents and tents of softball teams arrived from half the country. There were the Flames, the X-treme, the Cobras, the Diamond Dolls, the Storm, and hundreds more of dedicated young ladies in colorful uniforms. The first order of business was pin trading, in which, girls approach each other and literally exchange team pins, usually consisting of their logos on a metal shield. This is serious business. To the din of loud speakers, the girls from the hundreds of teams exchange pins and generally celebrate softball.

This scene is also being repeated in Florida, in Missouri and at other ASA and NSA national tournaments, and you, Mr. And Mrs. White Plains and Mr. And Mrs. America know nothing about it, because the male-sports dominated national media, ESPN, Fox Sports and the other national networks do not cover it or do stories on it.
According to John Stratton, Manager of the National Women’s Fast Pitch 2003 Champions, ten million girls play fast pitch softball in this country. Stratton says, if every parent of every one of those windmillers and shortshorts sluggers, and golden glovettes out there sent telegrams to ESPN, NBC, CBS, and Fox Sports and Sports Illustrated, maybe, just maybe they might wake up to how great the fast pitch game is for today’s young women.

Fast pitch softball is a lot bigger than women’s soccer, but the recent Vancouver Cup international tournament in Canada featuring the Brakettes, and teams from the USA, and other countries, was not even mentioned in the newspapers or covered by ESPN or Fox Sports. That’s pathetic non-coverage.

After the welcoming ceremony the Rockets returned to the hotel to escape from the Virginia heat. They do not have their first game until 8 PM this evening, and so spent Sunday evening having pizza out on the terrace, and were able to sleep late Monday morning.

Today, Monday, the girls experienced what life is like in the major leagues “on the road” before a night game: they killed time, practicing in the morning in the parking lot. Going to a mall in the afternoon, then dressing for the 6 PM trip to the ballpark for their first game with the Connecticut Bombers.

And, what did the designated driver, yours truly do? I walked to a mall, got a haircut, got a new pair of glasses made (having lost my regular glasses at home), and spent the afternoon on the terrace reading.

It’s almost time for the air-conditioned charter bus to take the Fast Pitch Babes to the ball park. More from Fast Pitch Nation tomorrow.