Fall ball teams are now posted above. 

Rosters are final.  We did our best to accommodate as many coaching and friend requests as we could.   Unfortunately we can not always accommodate all of the requests. This year we had 132 girls register and over 250 friend/coach requests.

Coached will be contacting everyone in the next couple days.  Practices will start the week of August 13th.

If you do not hear from your coach by Monday, August 6th please contact Wade Anderson at wk.anderson7@gmail.com

Thank you!

Update:  7/30/18 - Fall Ball Registration closed on Friday 7/27.

Fall Ball registration is open!    Fall ball is available for girls who participate in our 8u-12u programs.  For more information on fall ball, please select the fall ball tab above.

If your daughter was born in 2006/2007 - register for 12u fall ball

If your daughter was born in 2008/2009- register for 10u fall ball

If your daughter was born in 2010/2011- register for 8u fall ball

Questions?  Please email Haley at tgopher96@live.com

Fall Ball Registration closes on Friday July 27th.

STMA 14u / 16u Program is being established to give STMA athletes an opportunity to continue to play softball in STMA.  Our 14u and older teams will be run like club teams only in the sense that they will be open to players from other communities.  Otherwise, our 14u and older programs will look similar to what our 12u programs do with the addition of off season programming.   Once teams are formed they will participate in fall ball and the following Summer League seasons with off season practice dates.  Dome ball, off season tournaments and off Season training, at an additional cost, will also be offered.  These will be encouraged but optional to allow girls to participate in other sports that do not take place during the softball season.

Try Out

Our 14u tryout will take place on Monday August 6th (Tuesday August 7th / Thursday August 9th are scheduled if we are rained out).  We encourage all players to attend the August 6th date so everyone can have the same consistent evaluation with the same group of evaluators.  If your player can not make the August 6th date, you must notify Jay Houghton in writing beforehand and we will arrange an alternate evaluation, date TBD.  The players attending the alternate tryout will be evaluated by different evaluators and we will do our best to place them on an appropriate team. 

Team Formation

Tryouts will consist of on-field ability testing using neutral evaluators, Board members and team coaches.

The Board has final say as to the make-up of the teams with primary consideration given to tryout results.  Positions played are given significant consideration at the 14u and older levels.  Up to 12 athletes will be placed on the roster of each team. 

The Boards goal when forming teams is to make each team as competitive as possible.  Teams will participate in the Big West League and be placed at A or B level (there is no 14u C League).   We will form the number of teams we can based on the availability of pitchers and catchers.  Our goal is to find a way to have as many girls play as possible.  Factors like the number of pitchers and catchers may require us to make cuts.

League Play & Tournaments

Our 14u and older teams will participate in the Big West League (like our 10u and 12u teams) and will compete with the top teams in this league.  League games will take place on weeknights (generally Tue/Thurs).  In addition, coaches may elect to set up additional weeknight play dates with other teams of similar ability who are not members of the Big West League.  Teams will play in three to five tournaments (included in the cost) during the summer season.  The coach will determine the tournaments that best fit the competition level of the team and could include out of town tournaments. 

Costs and Payment

Checks for down payment will be collected at the August 6th try out date ($300).  Once a player has been offered and accepted a spot on one of our teams, that check will be cashed.  If the player does not accept a position, the check will be shredded or the parent may pick it up..  This down payment is not refundable; however certain circumstances such as player injury will be taken into account by the Board. The purpose of this deposit is to ensure a players commitment to the STMA GFA program and that a player will not leave our program after being placed on a team.  The balance of the team fees will be due on March 1st, 2019.

Coach Selection Process

Our 14u and older program will have both paid and non-paid coaches.  Parent coaches are not paid by the STMA Girls Fast Pitch Association.  However non parent and non-relative coach applicants may be paid.  Coaches will be selected by the SMTA GFA Board of Directors.

What about 16u?

Currently, the families coming to us to request programming have 14u eligible girls.  If your daughter is 16u eligible and interested in playing in STMA, please let us know ASAP.  We would certainly love to keep those girls in STMA also.  We currently have a handful of players that have contacted Jay.  If you intend to contact Jay for interest, please do so by July 10th.  We want to give ample amount of notice if we intend to offer a 16u program or not.  We will make that decision by July 16th.  If you have questions, please contact Jay Houghton at jhoughton@ironworksfab.com

What makes 14u/16u different?

When a player becomes 14U eligible they can try out for any program that they would like and are no longer required to play within their association.  While we would love to keep girls playing with us in STMA, we also want to educate people of their choices.

Currently in Minnesota there are 3 leagues of play.

1. Big West League – ability to play at A and B level.  Players will play on at team in a league schedule of approx. 20 games in the summer and a fall ball schedule of 4 weeks plus state in the fall.  In the summer/fall/winter teams participating at this level would have the opportunity to play in tournaments open to variety of levels that could include teams from the below leagues just like we currently see at 10 and 12U.

1. The Gold League-  Players will play in a much smaller league schedule approx. 8 games with usually a heavier focus on travel tournaments.  These league does not currently have a fall schedule and last year teams from this league participated in the big west/ tri county fall league

1. Top Tier fast pitch-  A league built of approximately 10 programs that broke away from the gold league.  These teams have a small unstructured approach to league play with a heavy emphasis on travel tournament.  League is only in its second year and is working through its structure.  In 2017 fall they played in 2-4 games with a state tournament.

Pricing for gold league and top tier clubs typically range from $1,500 to upwards of $5,000 for a yearlong program.

If you were to take a look at a “popular” 14u tournament that is taking place on a given weekend you would see teams from all three leagues participating in the same tournament.

If you have questions not addressed please contact Jay Houghton at jhougton@ironworksfab.com

Please contact your daughter's coach regarding location and times.  The games/times are not assigned for each week until the Wednesday before the week.

Sunday August 26th

Sunday September 9th

Sunday September 16th

Saturday September 22nd (8u-12u)

Sunday September 23rd (14u)

Saturday September 29th (8u-12u)

Sunday September 30th

Please click the link below if you have interest in umpiring in-house 8U or EWCFL games.  Umpires are assigned games as equally as possible and are paid.

Members in good standing are welcome to attend the next scheduled board meeting.   Board meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of every month or as scheduled.

Next meeting:  Tuesday, September 18th

STMA is looking to fill several open Board positions for the 2018-2019 seasons. These positions are the backbone to our association, its members, and our athletes. Without volunteers on the Board, our association would not be able exist.

Open Board Positions include:

 Vice president, Secretary, Webmaster, Fundraising Coordinator, Volunteer Coordinator, In-House Director and At Large positions

Please consider volunteering for a board position. The involvement with STMA Girls Fastpitch is incredibly rewarding. Contact us for more info!

Check out the great deals from Dave's Sport Shop in Maple Grove. Just print the PDF and bring it in to take advantage of the deals.