It's time for Fall Ball. What is Fall Ball? If you live in an area where there is inclement weather, and you play select softball, you play softball in the fall. Select softball is a softball league which plays at a higher, more challenging level than Little League.
Girls in some parts of the country where weather is good year round, like parts of California and Florida, for instance, play all year. Girls who play in areas where the weather gets cold in the fall and winter, practice year round, but play in good weather only. In these regions, the select softball season runs from March through July. August is a rebuilding month, where the girls who are no longer eligible to play on your team due to age, move up to the next level. These girls have to be replaced. There are some girls who want to leave your team for whatever reason, and there are those girls who you don't choose to have on back on your team. In August, you have tryouts and rebuild your team.
In the fall, while the weather is still nice, usually September and October, these newly developed teams play in tournaments. That is what is known as fall ball. Most of these teams will try to play two to three tournaments before stopping play until spring. They will practice during the fall and winter months to prepare for the real season that starts in March.
Fall tournaments are less structured than spring tournaments. The coaches are learning about their team's strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the fall season, it's time to practice some more, to start the whole process over again in the spring.
