Diamond fever: Softball enthusiasts packing Utah Valley fields year-round

They're addicted, but it's not to drugs or alcohol. These people get high the natural way — on a softball diamond. And they just can't get enough.

They're your friends and your neighbors. And some of them can hide it well. It's hard to tell who these people are until you actually catch them in the act. Some of them have been playing softball for as long as they can remember, and some of them are just starting out, but none of them can tear themselves away from a ballpark when softball's on the schedule.

Husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends and children either learn to love the action or spend March through October alone.

"My boyfriend plays on 10 softball teams," said Chelsea Mikalauski, who works at the Orem adult softball diamond as a scorekeeper.

She's an ex-pitcher for Mountain View High and Utah Valley State, and she plays on a slow-pitch team or two herself — but her boyfriend is even a little too addicted for the young woman who used to practice her pitching three hours a day in rain or snow and in sickness or health.

"I like that he plays softball, but to tell the truth, I'd rather have a boyfriend. We play on different teams, and I never see him during softball season," she added about the man she met — how else? — while playing in a slow-pitch league.

Mark Hansen, who is in charge of all adult softball leagues in Lehi and American Fork, laments the fact that he doesn't have more softball diamonds to work with for the sport that has caught such fire.

"We don't have any fields set up for just softball," said Hansen, who runs a spring/summer league in American Fork and a fall-only league in Lehi because all the fields are used for other things during different times of the year.

"My phone is ringing non-stop with people begging to get in," he said, adding that his fall league in Lehi can only accept 40 teams and is now full with 15-20 more on a waiting list, crossing their collective fingers that he can work something out.

None of the fields in either Lehi or American Fork run any leagues for women or coed teams. Those women addicts find themselves heading further south if they want to hit the diamonds for a little softball action. And Spanish Fork is adding a second complex with three more fields to its four-field softball complex that is only five years old.

"They'll have no problem keeping all the diamonds busy," said Don Andrews who is an avid softball player and coach for the Spanish Fork High School softball team.