[Longmont, Colorado] – It’s official, the Rocky Mountain Fastpitch Association officially merged with NAFA. The North American Fastpitch Association better known as NAFA holds the Largest Fastpitch Tournament in the World with teams and players from 8 Countries and over 35 States in the U.S.

NAFA holds championship play for every class of player in the sport of fastpitch including 23-Under, Men’s Open, Men’s AAA, Men’s AA-Major, Men’s AA, Men’s A-Major, Men’s A, and Masters 35-Over, Masters 40-Over, Masters 45-Over, Masters 50-Over and now with this announcement the NAFA “Wood Bat” World Series with pitching restrictions of pitchers of AAA and lower from our Master Pitchers list on our website at www.Nafafastpitch.com

NAFA and the RMFPA are pleased to announce this merger which takes effect today. The work that the Rocky Mountain Fastpitch Association has done developing the “Wood Bat” events in the Rocky Mountain States has been invaluable to a sport that needs new energy injected into it for future growth. In addition the focus on safety that is shared by both NAFA and the RMFPA will serve the players of our fine sport in the future as well.

NAFA will take over the operation of the 2007 “Wood Bat” World Series to be held Labor Day weekend in Longmont, Colorado. It will now be officially called the 2007 NAFA “Wood Bat” World Series. To enter the NAFA Wood Bat World Series, contact the NAFA by email at Nafafastpitch@aol.com or call Executive Director Benjie Hedgecock at 503-559-5398.

NAFA Executive Director, Benjie Hedgecock has appointed Dave Parker as the NAFA Rocky Mountain Multi-State Director representing teams and players and state directors from New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and West Texas. Those State Directors will report to Dave Parker as the regional contact and Dave Parker will report to Jon Kegel, NAFA Western Vice President.

Dave Parker will also serve on the Development Committee which is presently outlining a three step outline to assist people in forming local leagues with developmental pitching guidelines, teaching players how to pitch from the ground up with a local mentor and followup and setting up a Multi-national program to sponsor, outfit and organize 23-under teams in the U.S., Mexico and Argentina. You can contact Dave Parker at daparker@wyoming.com All events and activities formerly operated under the RMFPA will now bear the NAFA moniker. NAFA will continue to work will all national affiliations in the promotion of the sport of men’s fastpitch.

For more information on joining NAFA’s Wood Bat program or entering the Wood Bat Nationals contact Executive Director, Benjie Hedgecock at Nafafastpitch@aol.com

Some information, courtesy of our friend, Brett Bresnahan, webmaster for the NAFA site, plus many other fastpitch sites. Congrats to Brett who as of last week, is a proud papa.

[Des Moines, Iowa] – NAFA is pleased to announce a number of items that pertain to the upcoming 2007 NAFA World Series in Des Moines and West Des Moines, Iowa.

The first listing of the 2007 World Series teams list for classes competing in Iowa can be found on the 2007 World Series Website at www.2007ws.nafafastpitch.com and clicking on the “Teams” page.

A reminder that this is an unofficial teams list and does not reflect who may or may not show up in Des Moines. Rather, it is a list of teams that have told their State Director they intend on playing.

If you team is on the list and not attending, or is not on the list and would like to attend, contact your State Director immediately to get the process started.

The State Directors list can be found here.

Hotel information for the Des Moines area can be found here.

The Des Moines Organizing and Host Committee has already setup a number of great hospitality perks for teams and will be adding more as the World Series approaches. Those can be found here.

The 2007 World Series Website will serve as the information point for scores, results, etc. for the 2007 NAFA World Series.

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