Even during tough economic times and nearby competition, the City of Sparks is enjoying continued success in its adult softball programs.

The Sparks city softball league boasts big numbers — one of the largest programs in the Western United States.

“We’re over 750 teams a year now,” Sparks Parks and Recreation Supervisor Tony Pehle said. “It is still considered one of the largest per capita on the West coast.”

While Pehle is not aware of a study conducted in the last five years, he feels that if there was one, the Sparks softball program would be in the top 10 programs still. Five years ago, the program was ranked third per capita.

Sparks softball’s majority of its members come from its adult and co-ed programs. There is a spring season, which will conclude at the end of the month, and a summer/fall season that will begin the week of July 20.

Sparks also runs a Church league where teams are only to consist of church members and their family members. Young adults can play as well, with parental consent.

The program diversity offered is what keeps the Sparks programs strong and prosperous.

“One program we offer that we don’t know of a whole lot of other places that do, is our' Deep Freeze' program,” Pehle said of of the city's winter league. “I’ve gotten calls from Minnesota and Michigan and South Dakota and North Dakota asking for our rules on how to play it. It’s basically just like our regulars rules, just play ball.”

The Sparks 'Deep Freeze' softball league is offered in the dead of winter, running through January and February. This past season it was played at Golden Eagle Regional Park.

“The new complex out at Golden Eagle Regional Park doesn’t hurt,” Pehle said about Sparks’ popularity. “The players love playing out there.”

The park has been featured as the Park of the Year by two separate publications.

Another facet of Sparks’ softball popularity is its programs for women and seniors. Sparks offers both a 50-plus and over division for both men and women. There are seven men’s and four women’s teams in their respective divisions in the spring season. Currently, Sparks does not have to compete with the City of Reno for church, senior or women’s programs.

“I think the City of Reno runs a great program,” Pehle said. “I don’t think there’s enough senior teams for them to also have a program, the same for the church program ... I don’t think there’s enough teams for them to be split at both locations.

“They started the seniors league here in Sparks and we’ve just continued to expand that all the way up to a 75-plus division. As the players have gotten older, they’ve asked, can we add this division, and can we add that division and we’ve just accommodated them. We keep adding divisions and we’ll keep doing it until we can't anymore.”

There is also a women’s league with eight teams in it. Also for senior men, Sparks has a 60-plus, 65-plus, 70-plus as well as the 75-plus league.

“We care,” said Pehle, who has been running the Sparks softball program for 15 years. “We show that we care. I think not having a lot of turnover has also helped us. Having field crew guys that have been here for 10 years, they know how to work the fields. Our facility coordinators know the players. I think just having consistency has probably been our biggest factor that’s helped us along the years.”

From a team standpoint, Sparks has more than double the overall size of Reno’s program. Sparks has just under 300 teams per season, while Reno has about 115, Pehle explained.

What’s the biggest factor that keeps Sparks so popular?

“I just think we put a lot of effort into the whole program. From the training that the umpires receive, to the facility coordinators and groundskeepers that have been with us for many, many years, it's just a good program. We also put the standings in the newspaper and online. We're just trying to find different ways to make it better for the players each year and that has helped our program a lot.”

While facing a national budget crisis, the City of Sparks has faced its share of hardships. The city has been forced into layoffs to help offset funding shortfalls, but softball has continued to be successful.

`“We had a little bit of a drop in our registration numbers this spring, but very slight,” Pehle said. “About 15 to 20 teams. Last year was our biggest year ever so we weren’t too disappointed in the numbers that we got.”

One effect Sparks has seen is a decline in team sponsors. In the past, city businesses have been able to front the money to allow teams to play in the league.

“A lot of the teams have asked for extensions or come in and said ‘when is the deadline’ because they’re having a hard time getting sponsorship money,” Pehle said. “I’ve heard from a couple companies that have called me and said ‘hey, we can’t sponsor this year, when we’re laying people off. It’s hard to turn around and pay money for softball.”

While this has been a small factor, Pehle said teams are still able to get the money together to play.

“A lot of the teams had to come up with the money themselves,” he said. When you take a team of 11 or 12 players and divide it between all the players, it’s only about $50 a player. You get 10 games for that, so it breaks down to $5 a game which is pretty inexpensive when it comes to recreation.”

The fact that teams still come out to play is no surprise to Sparks. There are players that come from all over Nevada, and even some from Truckee and Tahoe who come out once a week to play in the city's league.

“We have people that come from all over the place,” Pehle said. “From Truckee, during deep freeze; I had a couple players who carpooled from Susanville. We get players that come from Carson City, Gardnerville, Fernley and Fallon. I’m not surprised anymore about how far they come and how many teams sign up.”

Sparks has sustained itself and tried to strengthen its program, with some success.

“The players still want to play and they’re finding a way to make it happen,” Pehle said.