Editorial -- staff

Summit Another Success

March 1, 2001 – Senior Softball-USA editorial

Players often have the notion that the National Senior Softball Summit decides the rules for the sport.

It does not.

The nine national organizations each decide its own rules. These organizations ˆ SSUSA, ASA, USSSA, SPA, ISA, NSA, ISSA, SSWS, and the Huntsman Games ˆ are as separate and individual as Ford and GM and Chrysler.

So it is indeed amazing that these nine national organizations can get together and agree on anything. For the past three years, the Softball Summit organizations have done just that.

They have agreed to narrow many of the differences in the game ˆ everything from courtesy runners to run-through rules ˆ and Summit delegates have taken major steps forward in developing a common team rating system and disciplining players caught cheating.

More importantly, the Summit has opened strong arteries of communication between the leaders of the sport based on a sincere desire to improve senior softball. The result has been a rare and healthy sharing of ideas ˆ and a willingness to change for the good of the sport.

That doesn't mean that the organizations are all going to merge into one ˆ or always agree.



But in the three years since Ridge Hooks put together the first Summit, the cooperation among organizations has increased dramatically and that cooperation has provided a strong foundation for the future of Senior Softball.