Unalaska summer softball season closes out with league championships

Amanda Schmahl grew up playing softball. She’s lived in Unalaska since the mid-2010s. Today she plays in the town’s newly-revived softball league, where she takes part in what she calls “healthy competition.”

“I think the coolest part about it is the camaraderie with people that maybe you wouldn’t hang out with on a daily basis because of work,” Schmahl said.

It’s the first time Unalaska has had a softball league since before the COVID-19 pandemic. So far this season, players pitched, swung, stole and slid their way through a total of 10 games. Games are held back-to-back every Sunday in August, with finals at the start of September.

Fire Chief Ben Knowles organized the new league.

“This island is a place where you have to make your own fun and take advantage of all the nice days, and this is a great way for all of us in the community to come together and be a little competitive and get some exercise,” Knowles said.

Four teams are playing this year, with some pretty creative names to boot: Pitch Please, Tough and Dirty, the General’s Hill Giants and the Master Batters. Only one will emerge victorious at the championship game this Sunday.

In spite of the high stakes, there’s plenty of space to make friends.

“We’ve had quite a few people on our team that, until the season started, I didn’t know,” Knowles said. “So we’re definitely having a good outreach factor, networking and meeting new people in our community we wouldn’t necessarily meet on a day-to-day basis.”

Longshore union member Lila Roll spent her time in the stands pulling for Tough and Dirty before eventually joining the league herself.

“It’s good to have the competitiveness, the community-ness together again,” Roll said. “It’s fun.”

General’s Hill Giants Team Captain Carlos Tayag said anything can happen during the games, which means people should come out and watch.

“Softball’s hot on the island right now,” said Tayag, who is also organizing a little league. “We have this beautiful field and we’ve had it for a long time, and they’re starting to renovate it and take care of it — they’re making it playable.”