After a two-year hiatus, adult summer softball leagues have returned to Hunter Park.

Registration ended June 13 and the season begins this week for almost 100 players.

“Summer leagues have been at Hunter Park for over 20 years but we were closed the past two due to renovations,” said Hunter Park athletic director Mieko Bercich.

There are five different adult softball leagues that compete at Hunter Park: Men’s Open, Men’s Recreation, Men’s Church, Co-ed Church and Co-ed Open.

Bercich said they “offer five leagues to try to accommodate everyone to their skill set.”

According to Bercich, the Men’s Open league is the most competitive and the teams average 25 to 30 runs, whereas the Men’s Recreation league averages 15 to 20 runs.

As for the Men’s Church league, Bercich said, “they enjoy being competitive but enjoy the game as a group activity.”

The Co-ed Open league allows men from the Open and Recreation leagues to play on the same teams and is said by Bercich to be the most popular league offered, having nine teams this spring. Bercich said the Co-ed Church league is a popular league as well.

There are currently no women’s leagues, therefore having women play in the co-ed leagues, but Bercich said it’s not for a lack of trying.

“We tried to offer women-only leagues and continue to do so but we do not have enough teams to make a league. If we had four teams we could make it happen,” said Bercich.

This season, with the men’s church teams deciding to play in the Men’s Recreation league, there are only four leagues, totaling 26 teams.

The minimum age for the church leagues is 16 and 18 for the other leagues.

All games are played at Hunter Park. Now that they have two fields at the park dedicated for their use, multiple leagues can play on the same days, eliminating Wednesday and Friday games which Bercich said helps their numbers.

Despite the slight difference in the leagues, every team has a manager and two assistant coaches.

For those who missed registration for the summer leagues, there are fall and spring leagues as well.

To view the summer schedule and standings, go to www.ci.douglasville.ga.us.

Information: Mieko Bercich at (678) 715-6059 or via email at bercichm@ci.douglas ville.ga.us.