Although spring has just begun, members of the City of Brotherly Love Softball League have been eagerly looking forward to the warmer weather, which will bring the first swing of the season during next month’s opening games.
The gay slow-pitch softball league is ushering in the new season with a new head of the women’s division.
The CBLSL board elected Cathy Harris as the women’s commissioner in November 2008, and she has spent the last few months organizing and solidifying plans for the upcoming season.
Harris, a former team manager and board member, has been involved with CBLSL for 12 years.
A native of South Jersey and graduate of Trenton State College, now The College of New Jersey, Harris moved to Philadelphia in 2000.
She said she was one of the few openly gay students on her college campus, and she welcomed the diversity when she moved to her East Falls home.
Harris, a finance major in college, currently works for The LLB Group, an account-software design company.
She played softball on her high-school team and recreationally in college, and started playing on CBLSL’s Woody’s women’s team in 1997.
She joined the V.I.P. team, which is sponsored by the Venture Inn, for its inaugural 2007 season, and became manager that year — a role she calls one of the most challenging in the league.
Harris said the CBLSL board approached her about taking on another leadership position after learning of her number-crunching skills.
“I had worked with one of the other board members on a block party for our closing day that year, and we decided to do a fundraiser for the teams to go to different tournaments,” she said. “He noticed that I was really good with numbers, and he recommended me to the board, which then appointed me as the replacement for the treasurer who was leaving.”
Her one-year term as treasurer began in November 2007: Harris noted that although the transition from player to head of the division was a quick one, she’s up to the job.
“It seems like a fast rise to the top but I am up for the challenge,” she said. “I think that people look to me as a leader no matter what. Even when I was the treasurer, people used to ask me questions about the league. I think people who know my character know that I’m fair and nonbiased and won’t show any favoritism to my team or to any other team, and I think they’re looking for someone like that.”
There are currently 16 teams in CBLSL’s women’s division, and Harris said membership is on the rise.
For next year, she said, the league is looking into instituting the Amateur Softball Association’s policy that all batters will begin play with a one-ball, one-strike count, which will cut down on the length of games and free up fields for more teams.
Harris said the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, which oversees LGBT sports leagues like CBLSL, recently created the nonprofit Amateur Sports Alliance of North America to specifically support women’s softball.
But the CBLSL is committed to keeping its men’s and women’s teams in close association.
“One thing I asked the other board members when I was elected is what they’d like to see me do, and they said they’d like to see the women and men’s divisions become more unified. Just because they’re split on the national level doesn’t mean they should be split on a local level,” she said.
Harris added that CBLSL is looking to host the 2011 ASANA World Series and is currently designing a bid proposal that will be presented at the organization’s week-long tournament in Las Vegas next February.
Jeff Sotland, CBLSL commissioner, said Harris will be integral in securing the bid.
“With Cathy’s help, we are now working on the bid for the 2011 ASANA World Series that will bring over 1,000 women to Philadelphia for a week of softball and Philadelphia life,” Sotland said. “Cathy is a dynamic person who has picked up where our last two women’s commissioners left off.”
Harris said she’s eager to spearhead the effort to have CBLSL host the tournament and heighten the visibility of the Philly league, as well as among other LGBT teams across the nation.
“These players, their family and friends would all be staying in Philadelphia and bringing great revenue to our city and to our sponsors, not to mention the fabulous parties we would have all week long. It is an exciting time to be part of CBLSL.”
CBLSL’s season opens April 19. For more information, visit www.cblsl.org.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].