With soccer’s World Cup creating its own wave of fandom across the U.S., a burgeoning independent softball league brought a glimpse of international competition to Cypress this week as the women’s national softball teams from Japan and Mexico played an exhibition game.
Tied also to America 250 as well, fans filled the grandstands of Arnold Cypress Park on July 8 to see the exciting conclusion of a three-day tournament organized by “The League,” an independent and innovative women’s softball league organized by Lou Simon.
“We’re not talking about sandlot softball,” said Simon. “These girls really know how to play.”
“The League,” as it is simply called, grew from a single team of 17 girls who signed up with Simon to give themselves an outlet during the pandemic in 2020 “to rebuild their mental health and give themselves some inspiration.”
Following the The League’s first six-week program, Simon said, “the girls came to me in tears” and asked that they be able to “do it again next week.”
The League has attracted some of the best players in women’s college baseball and by the second year, enough players signed up to create four teams.
Now six years in, “The League” has grown to 12 teams, featuring some of women’s softball’s top ranked players from across the world and has attracted some major corporate sponsors.
They play a six-week slate of games and tournaments.
Mexico’s national team, who played Japan’s national team in The League’s final exhibition game, is a regular part of the upstart Cypress softball league.
“The way we build our summer league is to make it very competitive,” said Simon at Wednesday’s game. “We play seven innings and we create situational advance play. Some innings start with runners on base, some batters get balls and strikes before they bat, and so on.
Controversial calls are sometimes resolved with a “dance-off” by the opposing teams but high quality, nonetheless.
“It is never boring,” said Simon. “We built our summer league on making girls fearless and not fearful,” he said. “We do not have participation trophies.”
Another interesting feature is the scoring system. While most softball games are scored by only the number of runs scored Simon and the League’s games are decided by a points system.
Runners do score runs, and they do count. However, teams can “score” several other ways on offense and defense.
For instance, stealing a base gives you a point, throwing a runner out trying to steal a base will get you a point, a diving catch will give you a point, and triple points awarded for home runs.
“You never quite know who is going to win the game,” he said, “so it is always exciting.”
Even failure is treated as an element of success. “You have nothing to lose in the league,” he said, citing “if you fail it is okay because ultimately, that’s how you are going to succeed.”
Another innovation is the way teams are coached. In fact, there are no coaches. The girls coach themselves during regular league play. “We don’t have any coaches; the girls run the teams,” said Simon.
During the final game between the Mexican and Japanese national teams, however, Simon said coaches were allowed as teams adhered to more traditional rules that complied with Olympic requirements.
Reika Utsugi, a well-respected coach in the international woman’s softball scene who also serves as the head coach of Japan’s national team, said four of the team’s Olympic gold-medal winners were in Cypress for the game. Simon was the head coach of The League’s All-Stars and Orge Araujo coached Mexico’s National Team.
Photo by David N. Young
Through an American interpreter, Utsugi told ENE that their team appreciated the invitation to come to America to play.
First, she said, it is the “rainy season” in Japan and coming to play in the beautiful California sunshine was a great opportunity.
“We wanted to play strong teams from the Americas, especially those made up of college students,” said Reika. “Tomorrow, we fly to Peru to begin qualifying for the 2028 Summer Olympics,” she said, adding “this is great practice for us.”
Simon said a team made up of the “The League’s” all-stars beat Japan the day before but in the Mexican National Game, Japan eked out a 1-0 victory.
Simon said he and his staff had assembled two All-Star teams after a two week evaluation.
“It was amazing to have such talented players from all over the U.S. and other countries competing right here in Cypress,” said Cypress City Council member David Burke.
“I’d love to see us host events like this every year. It’s a great way to bring people together,” he said.
Tim Yurien, a Cypress native, said he is a huge fan and supporter of the league and likes what has emerged each year since the pandemic. “It’s a lot of fun to watch,” he said.
Following the game, dozens, if not hundreds of younger girls, waited in long lines to greet the players and have signed softballs from each of the team’s members.To reach the Olympics, the national teams must compete in a World Cup of their own. The current qualification rounds are underway in three groups of tournaments around the world. Japan’s team flew to Peru from Cypress to compete for a qualifying spot in the upcoming summer Olympics.
According to USA Softball, the Woman’s Baseball Softball Confederation, is the sole authority recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the World Cup determines the qualification for the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
In addition, they confirmed that the Japan National team, that played in Cypress, is the current World Champion, winning its 4th World Title by beating the USA team 6-1 in the most recent playoff finals.
With the World Cup filling stadiums around the U.S. with soccer fans, “The League” this week gave a standing room only crowd at Arnold Cypress Park a chance to witness a bit of World Cup Softball history of its own.