Champlin Park Fastpitch Association

Champlin Park Fastpitch Association (CPFA) plays in the MN Softball Big West League. This past year MN Softball made the decision to shift the age requirements to follow a more standard school year - birth year criteria.

Please understand this was a MN Softball league decision, not a CPFA Fastpitch decision. We are aligning our registration with the new age requirements and our bylaws will remain in place per standard procedure for "aging up" to the next level of play for this spring/summer tryout.

Please reach out to CPFA Board President Gaeli Iverson with any questions. The chart below can help you determine what age level you should sign your athlete up for. Spring/summer fastpitch sign-ups coming soon.

MN Softball Website

Try-out process

• No refunds after team determination
• Closed try-outs (parents cannot watch)
• Coaches observe try-outs, but do not evaluate
• Evaluators are independent volunteers

Schedule

• We will begin practices as soon as we can get on the fields (usually mid-April)
• 8U - 12U Games begin early May (coaches will provide exact schedules)
  • Expect one game/week while school is in session and two games/week at the end of the season once school is out of session
  • Games are double headers beginning at 6:15
  • You will have to travel to games in other communities within our Northwest region
• 14U - 18U Games begin early June (to accommodate high school game schedules)
• Practices are at the coach’s discretion, but usually twice per week

• Tournaments
  • The Association fees include registration entries into our home tournament (when applicable), one tournament at your coach’s discretion, State qualifiers, and the State tournament.
  • Your coach may choose to register for additional tournaments. The players cover these fees. Higher-level teams typically enter an additional 3-5 tournaments; the lower teams do fewer. The individual fees depend on how many players are on the team and how much each tournament costs. 

2023 dates

• 10U Qualifiers - TBD
• 8U/10U/12U State - TBD
• 14U/16U/18U Qualifiers- TBD
• 14U/16U/18U States - TBD

Fees – while we have our registration fees, some teams opt for some of the extras noted below

• Regular fees
  • $160 8U
  • $260 10U - 18U first year
  • $360 10U - 18U returning player
• Team Banner: Some teams opt to buy a team banner. This cost is also divided amongst the team members.
• Pictures: It is optional for you to purchase individual/team photos.
• Nationals
  • If your team qualifies, you do not need to pay the entrance fee, but there are other costs
  • Team splits the cost of the gate fees and NAFA registration (2018 = $230)
  • Gift bags: each team exchanges gift bags with the first team they play (usually $10-15 each)
  • Costumes: teams do a group costume for the parade
  • Pins: Players trade pins with other players. Plan on $2/pin (usually a bit less than that)
  • For example, a player’s total due for Nationals in 2018 was $56.94

Volunteer hours

• We are a volunteer-based organization and rely on families doing volunteer hours to manage our fields, concessions, and our tournament
• There will be no Buy-Out offered this year.
• We will have more information on this at the player-parent meeting

Fundraiser

• We do have a mandatory fundraiser that funds field improvements, new training equipment, and to help control registration fees