RAPID CITY - During the summer months, an abundance of softball leagues are playing games at several fields.

But what teams? And on what fields? An outsider to the softball scene can get confused.

All of Rapid City's softball fields are owned by the city, and they are leased to several entities - Rapid City ASA, local church leagues and Little League organizations to name a few.

"All of the fields are linked to organizations," said Jerry Cole of the Rapid City Parks and Recreation Department. "You have to get permission to utilize the fields."

The Rapid City ASA adult leagues play their games at the Star of the West complex on the east side of Rapid City. The teams play Monday through Friday on the fields, starting in May and ending in the beginning of October.

There are several ASA adult leagues, according to Tim Callahan, president of the adult ASA leagues. The majority of which are currently playing, and they will end their seasons during the middle of August. Co-ed leagues begin close to the end of August and continue though September. In mid-September, the league shares the fields with midget football.

Youth baseball and softball in Rapid City is split between the ASA and Little League. Both organizations have girls softball leagues, with Little League going up to the age of 12 and ASA going up to the age of 18. The ASA girls play their games mostly at the four-diamond Parkview softball complex on the south end of Rapid City, near Minnesota Street.

There are five Little League organizations for boys baseball and girls softball: Harney, Timberline, Bandit Ball, Canyon Lake and Rushmore. The leagues, which vary in age from tee-ball to 12-year-old Majors, manage and play on about 35 fields in the Rapid City area.

According to Tom Berger, the vice president of Timberline Little League, the largest of the Little League organizations is Canyon Lake, with about 750 players. Canyon Lake plays on 10 fields, which are off Sioux San Drive between Canyon Lake Drive and Jackson Boulevard.

Harney Little League plays its games on fields off Fairmont Boulevard near Robbinsdale Park, located several blocks east of Rapid City Regional Hospital. The league averages about 600 to 700 players.

Bandit Ball has about 150 to 200 players.

Timberline and Rushmore each have about 350 players, Berger said. Rushmore plays its games on fields on the north end of Rapid City, off New York Street. The fields are also used for senior leagues and the Club for Boys. Timberline plays on fields located at the corner of Sioux San Drive and Canyon Lake Drive, and they also play on Whitehead fields.

Timberline has to yield to the church leagues after 7 p.m. at the east and west fields at Whitehead fields, Berger said. Timberline also owns fields near Black Hawk.

The church leagues, which have about 500 players on more than 30 teams, have played at the Whitehead fields since the 1960's, said Dennis Hanken, an organizer of the leagues. The fields were the original slow-pitch fields in Rapid City.

There are several places a person can go to play an informal softball game, without the structure of a league, Cole said. Roosevelt Park and a backstop at College Park are good places. Cole also said there are several open green spaces in which people can start up games.