Beer can tip the balance in softball

Friday, July 6, 2007 | 6:54 a.m.

Call it a favorite summer pastime's version of the old chicken-or-egg question: Which comes first, the softball or the beer?

The way you answer that question probably affects where you play softball in the valley.

If you're the kind of player for whom going three-for-four means downing three brewskies in the first four innings, then the softball complex at the Clark County-operated Sunset Park probably is your home field.

But if you're running the bases and chasing down fly balls in triple-digit temperatures primarily for your own personal sports highlights reel, then one of the family-friendly and beer-free fields of Las Vegas and Henderson is the place for you.

And that's why you'll find Mario Regalado at Sunset Park.

It's not that Regalado needs a few beers to play softball. But it makes the sport he plays three times a week more fun and laid-back.

"It also gets the team to enjoy playing together and not to be so serious," the 36-year-old said. "I was playing for a team that did not let us drink and it was boring because they took it too serious ly ."

Regalado is one of hundreds of people who pour into Sunset Park nearly every night toting bats, gloves and balls - and huge plastic coolers stuffed to the brim with frosty cold cans of beer.

A total of 193 teams are using the fields at Eastern Avenue and Sunset Road this summer, playing in 24 leagues. In the fall, once the weather cools , that number typically skyrockets past 300.

The number of softball players choosing Sunset Park far surpasses those using fields in Las Vegas and Henderson. But you can't bring alcoholic beverages to those parks, at least not without hiding them like a high school kid at homecoming.

"I'd hide it in a McDonald's cup," Regalado joked.

Earl Bostic, the guy responsible for making the county league run smoothly, doesn't want to say alcohol is responsible for making softball so popular in Clark County. But he acknowledges that the ability to drink might give the county park an advantage over the competition.

"Nobody's ever come right out and said it," Bostic said. "But I would think that might be the case."

It seems odd that in a region that prides itself on giving people anything they want anytime, some municipalities have banned a simple lager from their fields.

But Las Vegas and Henderson cite safety concerns and the fact that parks are typically used by children .

Henderson is less than a mile from Sunset Park. Its 10 fields give the city two more than Sunset, and they're in better condition. But city laws forbid alcohol in parks, which may help explain why Henderson's summer leagues have attracted only 110 teams, 83 fewer than Sunset.

"It may have a small impact," Kevin Kullberg, Henderson's assistant recreation coordinator, said of the no-beer rule. "But there are a lot of other factors."

Lonny Zimmerman, Las Vegas' manager of recreation and sports, says he doubts the city's ban on beer is a disincentive for softball teams. Las Vegas has 150 teams in its summer league.

Zimmerman figures that instead of imbibing in the dugout, the players hit a watering hole after the final out.

"I think it's like any social occasion," he said. "The recreational players come out and do their pursuit and then they head to the closest local place."