Slow-pitch softball as a high school club sport? It can happen.

A number of coaches and high school students are pushing to make it happen.

The Greater Pittsburgh Softball Association has put together a 10-team slow-pitch league this fall, the teams comprised of girls in grades seven through 12 unofficially representing various school districts.

"The idea is to show school districts that there are plenty of girls who want to play softball, but prefer slow-pitch to fast-pitch,"said Lori Bassetti, coach of the Knoch squad.

Joining Knoch in the league are Fox Chapel, Penn Trafford, North Allegheny, two teams from Shaler and four from Cranberry Township. Each team has about 19 girls on its roster.

"We've been having meetings on this subject for two years now," Saxonburg Softball Association vice president Ruth Harris said. "This is the first step toward getting slow-pitch softball introduced as a club sport in local high schools in the fall of 2007."

Bill Jansto, serving as the lead of this movement in the Cranberry Township area, said one of the first hurdles is to convince school officials that fast-pitch and slow-pitch softball are two different sports.

Under current PIAArules, an athlete can play only one season in a given sport during an academic school year. If fast-pitch and slow-pitch softball are considered one sport, any girl participating in a fall slow-pitch league would be ineligible to play fast-pitch in the spring.

"They are not the same sport,"Jansto insisted. "You pitch the ball, hit the ball and catch the ball. The similarities end right there. The games are played under different rules with a different number of players in the field."

Knoch fast-pitch softball coach Scott Docherty agrees — and is in favor of slow-pitch softball entering the high schools.

"These girls are not in competition with the fast-pitch game," he said. "Not one of my fast-pitch players is on this fall slow-pitch team.

"It should be a club sport. These girls want a chance to play and represent their high schools and they should have that opportunity."

Bassetti said that booster clubs are already in place for these fall teams. North Hills, Plum, Penn Hills, Hampton and McKeesport are other areas in support of the fall league and did not enter teams in the league only because they received the word too late.

"This league will be back next year — and it will be bigger,"Harris said.

Girls lacrosse was introduced as a club sport at a number of schools in recent years and became a varsity sport last year. Boys lacrosse remains a club sport, but there is a push to make it a varsity sport.

Ice hockey has been a club sport in Pennsylvania for years and has never attempted to become a varsity sport.

"Once a sport becomes a varsity sport, it is subject to PIAArules, which include length of season and number of games played,"WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley said. "Hockey needs a longer season because of the limited ice that's available in this region.

"Boys lacrosse will likely become a varsity sport soon."

As for slow-pitch softball?

"I'm not sure I understand why they want to come into the schools,"O'Malley said. "Community associations exist to provide a means for girls to play slow-pitch softball.

"By nature, the slow-pitch game is more for fun. It's not as competitive. It does not require as high a skill level. It's more of a recreational, social activity. Petitioning individual schools to become recognized as a club sport is the first step of the process, though."

Jansto said the idea of more students participating in after-school sports is motivation enough for schools to introduce slow-pitch softball as a club sport.

"Three of every 10 girls playing softball in Cranberry play fast-pitch,"he said. "Seven out of every 10 play slow-pitch.

"Field hockey, soccer and basketball are all recognized girls sports in high school. So why not slow-pitch softball? It's as popular as any of them."