There's nothing quite like spring. Flowers bloom, grass grows and parents look at previously white-colored pants wondering just how much dirt their washing machines can actually handle.

Such is the fun of Little League, which kicked off in full force in western Prince William County this past Saturday. This year marked a different start for the Gainesville District Little League as its softball program became part of the Prince William County Girls Softball Little League. Both leagues celebrated opening day ceremonies April 17.

According to GDLL president John Craig, the idea stemmed from seeing what happened with softball programs in Loudoun County and McLean that operated on their own as he noticed the "potential for growth" in the sport "is great.

"I think overall you're going to have a lot of girls playing softball," he said.

Craig disputed a prior report inferring that GDLL focused its past efforts more on baseball and treated softball as a secondary part of its program. For example, he said he personally spent "hundreds of hours" of his own time on organizational efforts for softball.

"It's not true, but you're always going to have that impression out there," said Craig. "It's never going to go away."

According to Craig, softball "requires more attention" to maintain than baseball, particularly because of the all-dirt infields.

Though the new softball league is still tied to the GDLL, allowing the softball league to flourish on its own, he said, could help increase participation in the sport over time.

"This is the right thing to do for the future of softball in Prince William County," he said, "to get it to grow, to get to have its own stand alone league in a geographic area."