New opportunities await Cranston youth softball players, as the CLCF softball program will be joining forces with Cranston Western this spring to create a new Little League-affiliated club.

Cranston Western, which boasts one of the top Little League baseball programs in the state, will now host CLCF softball players from ages 9-12 in the summer to allow them to compete in the annual Little League tournament. CLCF offers recreational leagues as well as travel leagues, but with the help of CWLL, will be able to give these players the opportunity to compete in one of the most storied tournaments in American sports.

“We wanted to be able to give the girls the Little League experience in accordance with our program. We decided to go with Cranston Western since most of our girls are from their district. They run a great boys program and we wanted to give that to the girls as well in addition to the travel options that we offer … it really is the best of both worlds,” said CLCF President Tiffany Spiridakos of the merge. “Any time that you can offer new opportunities to the kids, get more exposure to the sport, they now have the opportunity to travel to Bristol for regionals or Portland for nationals. The City of Cranston has been very successful with putting out softball teams. We’ve won championships regionally and nationally, we have a talented group of kids and this is a great opportunity for the girls.”

“Opening the potential to compete in All-Stars is excellent,” added CWLL Softball Coordinator David Bogosian. “My son went through that process and was fortunate enough to be on the team that went to Williamsport in the Little League World Series. I like it based on the fact that we’re giving them the availability to play All-Stars, and you see (on the boys side) at states, regionals and mid-Atlantic that we host the tournament, if this program takes off with the girls, then (hosting the softball tournament) is also a definite possibility.”

Not only will this partnership allow these girls to compete in the All-Star tournament, but it will also establish a feeder system for the middle school and high school programs in the city.

“It’s two-fold. We want to give the girls the opportunity to experience the All-Star tournament, but we also want to help set up a feeder system for the high schools. This year will be more about getting our feet wet. There will be a learning curve in 2019 but we hope that this will be a year to build on moving forward,” said Bogosian. “We hope that this will increase rec numbers, having the girls know that they can compete in All-Stars, compete in the state, regional and national tournament, be able to travel with friends during the summer, hopefully this increases the numbers. My daughter has made so many friends playing softball.”

The two clubs are also hoping to work together to make improvements in other areas in the coming months as well.

“We are hoping to add one or two more fields which is in the works, we are also going to be renovating our batting cages by the end of the summer depending on the weather. We’re trying to get another set of lights put up since we only have one field with them, and kids love playing under the lights” said Spiridakos. “We’re really happy to be working with Cranston Western Little League, they have a great program and we’re excited to bring two successful programs together.