Fast-Pitch Softball in Las Animas, Colorado

We lived in Las Animas, Colorado, a little town of about 2,000 people. Our recreation in the summer was softball. We had never heard of slow pitch, so it was fast pitch, and a lot of us played every night we could by going to the local park and waiting until the men’s teams—we were kids in our teen years—came by and needed an extra player or two to fill out the roster.

We would call home, jump in the car or the pick-up truck with our spikes and our gloves and go off to places like Eads and LaHunta, Swink and Sand Creek, and Rocky Ford and play softball—maybe two games even. But we were playing with the guys. They would use us to fill out the roster.

We sometimes got back late at night, but that was okay. We never paid anything and as far as I know, no one ever got hurt. But that was one of our main recreations was fast-pitched softball played with grown men."

Asset ID #7355