Lake Zurich Baseball and Softball Association

The Junior League is a mildly-competitive league comprised of  3rd and 4th grade girls who want to learn how to play softball.  Here the players are introduced to pitching, base stealing, tagging up, etc.  Girls pitch to girls, umpires are used, and balls & strikes are called.  Windmill pitching is allowed but not a requirement.

Following ASA guidelines for this age level, a hard 11" ball is used, bases are 60' apart, and the pitching distance is 35'.

As in Tyro, girls are encouraged to play several different positions, and a continuous batting order is used.  Limits are put on individual pitchers so that several girls get that experience and no one girl can dominate a game.

The league is made up of 9-10 teams that play a 12-13 game regular season schedule.  The teams are formed through a player draft and requests to pair players are communicated at the draft but not guaranteed.  Two all*star games are played near the end of the regular season.  The regular season is followed by a playoff to determine a league champion.  The league also includes a post-season travel all-star team in which players must try out to be selected.  They typically play in 2 "away" tournaments and host 1 LZ tourney.