09/10/2026
Moberly Parks and Recreation wants to clarify some information - and in some cases misinformation - on what is being proposed for structural changes in softball in 2027.
First and foremost, baseball for many years has ended at 14U and transitioned to school programs and travel ball. The proposed change in softball would streamline softball and align it with the structure of the local baseball private leagues - equalizing things between softball and baseball. This structure has proven to be successful, focusing on player development and overall league quality.
For a deeper dive into the subject:
In the last four years, our softball participation has doubled (competitive softball has more than doubled). Baseball is also on a significant growth track, pulling folks from as far as Columbia and Kirksville. That's a great problem to have, but it also means we are over-extended on field space, short on umpires (resulting in reduced game calls/quality), we have been unable historically to offer a playoff tournament, and we have a lot of inefficiency and redundancy internally (12U) and externally (16U and 18U).
Current Softball Program
8U Recreational (non-competitive, individual registration)
10U Recreational (non-competitive, individual registration)
12U Recreational (non-competitive, individual registration)
12U Competitive (team registration)
14U Competitive (team registration)
16U Competitive (team registration)
18U Competitive (team registration)
Proposed Softball Program
8U Recreational (non-competitive, individual registration)
10U Recreational (non-competitive, individual registration)
12U Competitive (team registration)
14U Competitive (team registration)
12U recreational often has approximately 4 teams which is barely enough to run a league. This is a redundant program this 12U competitive and these girls will be able to continue in 12U competitive softball. This is a structural merger of two competing 12U programs, not an end to 12U softball.
To ensure access without financial barriers, we set fees lower than what it takes to pay for 100% of league expenses. However, as stewards of taxpayer dollars, we also have to be responsible and operate things efficiently, eliminating thousands spent on redundancy internally and externally.
16U and 18U most years (2026 is an exception) have so few registrations that we have to merge them. Other years due to insufficient registrations, 14U and 16U had to be merged. In today's legal climate, we cannot merge age groups anymore. There are only two 16U teams from within the county and only 1.5 teams in 18U from within the county even in a "peak" year such as 2026. The majority of these girls on these teams also can (and do) participate with school programs and traveling teams with some teams being involved in 2-4 different programs simultaneously. This not only demonstrates that there is a place to play for most of these girls, but it also makes it difficult to schedule rainouts as most of the teams have such little availability due to playing in multiple programs that rained out games end up not made up - resulting in complaints.
What we hope to achieve through the proposed structural changes:
1. Focus on quality of the league.
2. The changes will *equalize* things between softball and baseball and create a streamlined pipeline from 8U-14U summer ball to school programs.
3. Provide better umpire coverage for better game/call quality. We are short on umpires and that has resulted in games with 1 umpire when there should be 2. Umpires are human and they are going to miss calls in these situations. This results in a lower quality product as well as complaints.
4. More field availability at the athletic complex for regular games and rescheduled games for rainouts. Fields that are currently busy will not sit idle. We are overflowing onto Meinert Field and even with these changes, will likely continue doing so. In an ideal world, we would open Meinert Field back up for practices as we are short on practice fields. Though that is not likely at this point.
5. We may be able to begin offering a playoff tournament post-season which the public has been wanting for years. Currently, by the time we finish the schedule with the existing softball structure, folks are burned out and in vacation mode and there is little opportunity to put something together that folks would participate in. It's challenging on the staff side also.
6. In short, these are all changes aimed at addressing quality of play and quality of league structure concerns we have heard in recent years while aligning with baseball's current structure which has been in place for approximately a decade.
