Room for two?
USSSA has officially entered the Alaska softball scene by announcing Brad Peterson as the Slow Pitch State Director for USSSA Alaska. If you are unfamiliar with Brad he is a long-time Alaska player and this summer he will celebrate 20 years of sponsoring at least one team in Anchorage, with his coaching/playing extending well past that. From 2014 through 2022 Brad acted as the USA Softball state player rep, and from 2014 to 2017 he served as Anchorage Sports Softball Director. Brad also spends time umpiring fast pitch and slow pitch every season.
This isn’t the first association USA Softball has shared Alaska with, in 2006 Anchor Town Sports left USA Softball and aligned themselves with the National Softball Association. NSA brought with it some different rules and regulations but Anchor Town was the only Alaska association to adopt them, making it hard to grow their footprint. After the 2009 season Anchor Town switched back to USA Softball.
Brad told us that at this time his primary goal is to help register those teams traveling out to play USSSA tourneys in the lower 48. Leagues were not mentioned, but the potential for an Alaska USSSA tourney has entered Brad’s mind, as always finding officials would be a major obstacle, right behind field usage. ...