The Aurora Fastpitch Softball Association’s adult recreational fastpitch league plays from 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday nights, from May through Early August. The tryouts will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Pierce Field, 1301 Jackson Street in Aurora. The league is open to both Men and Women, age 16 and up, with each team playing a 12-game regular season schedule with double elimination playoffs following the regular season schedule. The field features a pitchers mound fixed at 46-feet, with bases at 60-feet. Gameplay is overseen by an Amateur Softball Association sanctioned umpire, and gameplay is governed by USA/ASA men’s fastpitch rules. A complete list of rules and league bylaws can be found here.
Welcome to the Aurora Fastpitch Softball Association, home of the Aurora Raiders, Aurora Dolan & Murphy Shamrocks, and the AFSA Recreational Fastpitch League. We promote teamwork, fitness, and community involvement through the game of fastpitch softball for the city of Aurora, Illinois and surrounding communities through our recreational league. We also sponsor an elite level of competition for all ages through our club teams, the 16U and 18U Raiders (girls) and the Dolan & Murphy Shamrocks (men).
Fastpitch softball has been part of Aurora since the 1930s. The game gained popularity in the city during the 1930s and 1940s in two recreational men’s leagues, The Aurora Industrial League, and The Aurora Protestant Church League. The game took center stage in town in the late 1940s, when industrial conveyor manufacturing company Stephens- Adamson decided to sponsor and get serious about one of the teams from the industrial league, The Aurora Sealmaster Bearings.
S-A built the Sealmasters a stadium across the street from their manufacturing complex, aptly named Stephens-Adamson Field on Ridgeway Avenue, on the city’s near west side, and brought world class players to the team. In 1950, the team finished fifth in the nation, and by the mid 1950s, had solidified their reputation as one of the best teams in the United States. The Sealmasters went on to win National Championships in 1959, 1961, 1965, and 1967 and World Championships in 1966 and 1968.
Aurora Home Savings and Loan took over sponsorship of Aurora’s Major Men’s team in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1970s, the Savers finished second in the ASA Nationals for four consecutive years and won the International Softball Congress World Tournament (Tempe, Ariz.) in 1980.
Dolan & Murphy Real Estate has sponsored Aurora’s Major Men’s Team since 1988. Aurora has qualified for and played in the International Softball Congress World Tournament every year since 1994, which is a record. More recent highlights include a 12th place finish at the ASA National tournament in 2001 (Decatur, Ill.), a 17th place finish in 2007 (Kitchner, Ontario), and a 2nd place finish in the ISC II tournament in 2012 (Midland, Mich.).
In 1998, the Aurora Fastpitch Softball Association was established. The AFSA board wisely recognized that the women’s game was coming of age and could benefit from helping young women develop their game at a more competitive level. Since adding the women’s teams to the already well established men’s programs, the organization has grown to sponsor several girls travel teams (The Aurora Raiders).
In 2018, the AFSA began running a public recreational fastpitch league, open to men and women ages 16 and up. The league is a continuation of the previously mentioned Aurora Protestant Men’s League, which operated from 1931 – 2017.
—Aurora Fastpitch Softball Association