RAPID CITY - T.J. Hay was Little League through and through. Hay grew up two blocks from the Harney Little League fields and, Hay said, he spent many summers on those fields playing baseball.

"I played all the way through there," Hay said. "I had a little brother and sister that played. That's where we hung out in the summer, playing baseball at the Little League field."

Hay later became involved in Little League beyond playing. Hay started off as a director of the minors league program at Canyon Lake Little League and would eventually go on to coach his daughter's softball team when she was 9 years old. But during his second year as a coach Hay said he noticed a new trend in Little League softball.

"Our second year a lot of the girls that were 12 years old in the league played ASA and Little League," Hay said. "That really caused some problems with Little League because if they had a game on the same night, they were choosing to play ASA. It really shorthanded the Little League teams"

Hay said his then 10-year-old daughter really wanted to play for a local Little League All-Star team but didn't qualify. So following that 2006 Little League season, Hay and his daughter sat down and talked about where they would play the following season.

"We were trying to decide what to do the next year and we decided we couldn't (play both Little League and ASA) because that wasn't really an option" Hay said. "I talked to some parents and they were all in favor of it. So we decided we might as well get them started now, we found a sponsor and decided to go the ASA route."

Hay said he knows his decision angered some in the Little League community. But, he said, he remains a huge supporter of local Little League, even remaining a coach of his son's Little League baseball team.

"I was a big Canyon Lake person, and I still am. I still have a boys team and I know there were some people mad that we took some girls," Hay said. "I could see why they would be a little upset. Because you had girls playing both, and I was kind of in the middle of that. I had one girl, I told her I really appreciated her trying to get to our games and she did a fine job of that. But I know there were times when we would play other teams and they could hardly field a team because two or three girls were playing ASA, especially on the weekends when they would go to tournaments."

Two years after the decision, Hay said he and his family are happy with the decision to join ASA.

"The nice thing about ASA is it's 100 percent for the girls. Little League you have boys and girls, and the bigger participants are boys," Hay said. "I think there are some issues where the leagues tend to look at the boys a little bit more than the girls."

ASA began in 1999 in Rapid City with just two teams but has steadily grown. It was an offshoot of the senior league which was a division of Little League.

Hay, who coaches his daughter's U-12 team, said being part of ASA for two years has brought to light several differences between the two organizations.

"In the two years we had a Little League Majors team, we had some girls that didn't show up to practice and wouldn't show up to the games. You know in Little League you draft them, in ASA you get to hand-pick who you want" Hay said. "A lot of that has to do with parent involvement, Little League is run by all parents. It is all volunteer."

Hay said even umpires in Little League are all volunteer, something he doesn't have to worry about in ASA, which uses paid umpires to oversee games.

"That's a huge bonus as a coach," Hay said.

Hay said with ASA in Rapid City taking off the numbers of girls participating in Little League has dropped and the talent pool isn't what it used to be.

"You have the upper-level teams that have been doing it for a couple of years, then you have your teams that try to field a group and get it going" he said. "You still have the big spectrum of teams in each age group. Like I said it is a big plus when you can chose your own kids. In Little League you are drafting. Our last year with the girls in Majors, it was everybody who tried out made it. I just think, for our team, the talent level is much higher with ASA."

ASA teams have the opportunity to travel the country to participate in tournaments. That exposure can lead to college scholarships, something, Hay said, Little League cannot provide.

"In Little League when you are done at 12, there was no other option for girls. They used to have senior leagues and big leagues for girls and those have been gone for years," Hay said. "That was another reason for ASA, we thought we get these girls, we kind of knew which girls we wanted, thought if we didn't do that now, I'm sure they would have been picked up and on another team."

Hay said the future of ASA in Rapid City remains bright as more and more girls continue to come out each summer to play.

"I think it is just going to continue to get better and better" Hay said.