After a long winter, the softball players of the Dartmouth Girls Athletic League finally got to step out in the fresh air and hit some home runs.

Though DGAL president and coach Jaryd Gioiosa’s Y-12 travel team, the Dartmouth Dynamites, has been practicing since the winter time, the girls didn’t get to enjoy their first outdoor practice until Sunday, April 17.

The Dynamites spent the afternoon practicing pitching and catching drills, running laps, and getting ready for the upcoming season, which will run through July.

Since the early 1970s, the league, DGAL has given girls in kindergarten through twelfth grade a place to play basketball, field hockey and softball. The organization gives athletes the chance to play sports competitively before going into high school.

Dartmouth High sports are thriving so it provides athletes with something to strive toward, Gioiosa said. “[DGAL] is integral to young athletes.”

Though DGAL is not a new organization, the board members feel that not enough of the town knows about the extracurriculars it provides to young girls throughout Dartmouth. DGAL fills a “need” left by sparse after-school sports and “unstructured play” during physical education in the elementary schools, Gioiosa said.

For the most part, the various recreation and travel leagues only gain attention by word of mouth.

Gioiosa became involved with DGAL because of his daughter’s love for softball. He also lends his time coaching the field hockey and basketball teams as well.

Softball commissioner Bob Benoit’s daughter, Emma, plays all three sports offered by DGAL. Lending his time to the organization only seemed natural.

“I figured if I have to be here, I can make a difference,” Benoit said.

Though more than 140 softball players are on DGAL, it can be tough recruiting enough parents to help with concession. Across 15 teams, each team must volunteer two parents per game to work the concession stand, one of DGAL’s most helpful sources of revenue, Gioiosa said. Though a fair number of volunteers do their duty, it is often the same faces time and time again, he added.

Though the travel teams have been playing through the winter, the rec teams started practicing this week and will have one weekday practice in addition to Saturday practices until games begin.

For more information on DGAL, visit dgal.leag1.com.