St. Charles Park District softball leagues brings friends together on the field

It started as a fun way to get together with friends once a week, and it’s become a summertime tradition.

If it’s Wednesday in the summer then St. Charles residents Bethany and Ben Fowler are at the Pottawatomie Park softball fields. Since 2017 they have rounded up friends to make up their team, The Hambinos, and compete in the St. Charles Park District’s co-ed softball league.

“We treat it as our date night and for the grandparents, it’s their week night to spend time with their granddaughters,” Bethany Fowler said.

Games aren’t just for the tots. The Park District hosts softball, soccer and pickleball leagues for adults ages 18 and older.

Pickleball leagues are year-round, indoors and out, with spots filling up within minutes of registration opening, explained Andrew Nelson, athletic supervisor for the St. Charles Park District. Indoor soccer leagues are held every fall and winter season inside Sportsplex.

Every spring, summer and fall season, several softball recreational leagues are offered for co-eds and men in two age groups, ages 18 and older and those over 30. The co-ed softball leagues play with 14-inch softballs and gloves while the men’s league plays with 12-inch softballs and gloves.

Nelson said each softball league includes six and 10 teams, complete with an umpire and a season-ending tournament to crown a champion.

“Each season it varies, but we always have a nice mix of new teams and returning teams,” Nelson said.

While many teams are crafted from friends, neighbors and co-workers, those looking to join can enter the league as a free-agent and fill-in for a team that needs an extra player.

Nelson added that this past winter he had a group of individuals who wanted to play soccer, and he placed them together to form a new team. By the end of the first session, the strangers had become friends and signed up to play the next session as a team.

“It was cool to see these guys build friendships,” Nelson said.

The leagues are designed to be casual, but Nelson said some of the teams can get serious, crafting team jerseys, assigning fielding positions and some have even found sponsors. Bethany Fowler said her team invited Johnson’s Statuary to sponsor the team, adding the name and logo to their jerseys and including the owner in the team events. While the sponsorship helps to defray some of the cost, she said it also adds another element of fun for the team which created its name from a line in the classic film, “The Sandlot.”

“We’re not just a team, we’re family,” Bethany Fowler said, adding how many players will invite partners, spouses and children to come out to the games. “And we have some fans too.”

In past years teams have been a mix of friends as well as co-workers. There was a team of local doctors and nurses one season. Even the St. Charles Police Department has fielded a team. Softball team registration is currently open with games scheduled May through August.

Ben Fowler said he and his wife played sports in their youth, but for them the league represents a chance to see their friends each week.

“We got into the league for fun and to hang out with our friends,” Bethany Fowler said.

The St. Charles couple’s league play has helped them to become more familiar with the park district and its catalog of events and activities.

“It started with softball and it opened our eyes to what the park district has to offer,” Bethany Fowler said, adding how her daughter at age 2 just had her first sports class and is taking a dance class this spring. The Fowlers hosted their daughter’s birthday party aboard the park district’s Paddlewheel Riverboat.

She said, “Softball put our foot in the door with the park district and we saw it had so much to offer.”