The Mission Bay Girls’ Softball League (MBGSL) is preparing to host the upcoming 2013 season with a free clinic on Saturday, Jan. 5 at McEvoy Field, located at 2701 Grand Ave. between Mission Bay High School and Mission Bay Golf Course. The clinic is run by MBGSL president and Mission Bay High School softball head coach Jimmy Ross and players from the Mission Bay High School softball team. “We want to promote softball and build it back up in Pacific Beach after it fell off the map a few years ago,” Ross said. According to Tom Paull, a former Mission Bay Little League and Mission Bay High School Buccaneer player from 1973-1980, the league almost shut down after the 2012 season because it fell shy of the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) rules that state a league must field at least four teams. “Things are looking up for MBGSL,” said Paull. “After almost having our league terminated, we are coming back stronger than ever.” All of the players from the 8-and-Under (8U) team from last year will be returning as part of the 10-and-Under (10U) squad, in addition to two new 8U and two 6U teams, Paull said. The MBGSL participated in the recent Pacific Beach Holiday Parade and passed out candy canes with business cards to promote the free clinic. “We had a great time in the parade and every girl got to ride our horse Apache, the official MBGSL mascot in the parade,” Paull said. The first 10 girls who sign up for the free softball clinic on Jan. 5 will be eligible to ride Apache in the parade next year, as well. Paull and Ross said they hope to help the girls develop their softball talents while at the youth level and create a pipeline for a local “farm system” of experienced players going into the high school level at Mission Bay. “We are now a year-round league because we will start playing for fall next year,” Paull said. “We need more girls who want to learn a great game and who want to be part of a team.” Ross agreed. “We don’t have a lot of girls with softball experience on our high school team,” Ross said. “Most of them have never played organized softball, so we would like to create a relationship between the youth and the high school levels to get the parents and community more involved.” The MBGSL is for girls between ages 5 and 14 from any school or community at any experience level. The league begins in late February and runs until early May. For more information or to register, visit www.mbgsl.org.