Most of the 78 teams in the Hockomock Girls Summer Softball League share a trait.

"We don't have too many undefeated teams and not too many teams left without a win, so that is good," league President John Bench says. 

"The playoff spots are tough to earn in this league, and we like to see competitiveness remain throughout the season and across the league."

Each team plays 10 games over five weeks.

This year, the league is fielding 78 teams among seven divisions across four age groups, "which represents close to 1,000 players," Bench says.

"More teams than ever are entering multiple teams per age division," he says.

"Last year, I believe we had about 70 teams, compared to 78 this year.  So we are up about 10 percent since last year.

"We also receive about five or six requests each year from various neighboring towns for their programs to join our league.  his is the first year, in at least the last three to four years, that we have actually voted in a new town program. So, we have one more town to travel to this year. We think it's going very well."

The organization will also be supporting two tournaments next month.

The first Stoughton Summer Smacka Softball Tournament will take place from July 20 to July 22. The tournament that will raise money for the Stoughton Youth Athletic Club will be open to U12 and U14 teams.

The next weekend, the 13th Annual Foxboro Summer Classic will be held from July 27 to July 29 at the Booth Playground. The round-robin format tournament will host three divisions for U10, U12, and U14 teams. The U10 tournament will consist of six teams while the other tournaments will be an eight-team competition.

For more information on the league and complete standings, visit the league’s official website.