Today, there are many teams in the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) that compete at the national level. The Amateur Softball Association/USA Softball is the National Governing Body for softball in the United States and responsible for increasing softball participation at all levels of various programs designed for players, umpires, fans, and sponsors. ("Amateur" n. pag.)
There is also the Women's Pro Softball League (WPSL) which is formally known as Women's Pro Fastpitch (WPF). John Carroll, WPSL Commissioner/CEO, writes, "the name change is an effort to raise an overall awareness and enhance general name recognition." ("New Name" n. pag.) This is a league which contains six teams from the Eastern United States and hopes to bring the sport of women's softball to a professional level. This means to have it broadcasted on television in 2000. It is made up of former members of the U.S. National Softball Team and collegiate athletes. ("Amateur" n.pag.) The teams in the WPSL are the Durham Dragons from North Carolina, the Virginia Roadsters from Virginia, the Georgia Pride from Georgia, the Carolina Diamonds from North Carolina, the Tampa Bay FireStix from Florida, and the Akron Racers (formerly the Orlando Wahoos) from Ohio. It will begin its third season in 1999 with 66 games. In 1994, John Horan tried to establish a women's professional softball league similar to the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League with two divisions, one in the Midwest and one in California but did not succeed. The WPSL was the next best thing and it will someday be the sport that many will watch on national television.
Gai Berlage, author of "Women In Baseball", writes, "unless women have a league of their own or girls begin to participate in large numbers in high school and college ball, the chances of a women playing professionally is remote." (Berlage 196) This is not believed to be true. There are a number of women and girls who want to play ball professionally and would like to have a league started across the country. Many women dream of the chance to play serious professional softball. For example, Julie Croteau, a player at St. Mary's College in Maryland, says, "if there was a women's league today, I'm sure that I would be in it." (Fincher n. pag.) This dream may soon be a reality. In a recent WPSL article they announced some wonderful news. It stated that the Amateur Association of America and the Women's Pro Softball League have agreed on a joint-marketing agreement that will leverage the sport of softball and position it as the women's team sport of the future. (WPSL n. pag.) This will allow professional softball be aired on television with sponsors. "Our ability to market the sport of softball from the professional level and the National Team level-to the grass roots level-to sponsors, is beneficial for everyone involved." ("Amateur" n. pag.) said WPSL Commissioner/CEO, John Carroll. This will advance the game of softball by creating marketing opportunities for the ASA and the WPSL. This agreement is to have games between the teams of the USA Softball Women's NationalTeam and WPSL teams in the 2000 season. This means that there will be more teams across the country so more women will be able to play.
On the other hand, arguments have been made that women's professional softball will never be as successful as that of the men's professional baseball. Judith Garman, author of a study done on attitudes toward softball competition for women, writes, From the start, girl's softball games have out-pulled men's games as box office attractions. Naturally, a lot of citizens jumped to the conclusion that it was the male spectators' lively interest in girls cavorting about in shorts that filled the stands. This notion blew up with a bang as soon as certain teams outclassed others. (Garman 28)
