WASILLA — Attempting to find a parking spot anytime between 6 and 10 p.m. during the week at Bumpus Ball Fields is almost impossible. This is due to the slow-pitch softball leagues that have become a summer obsession in Wasilla. And although the halfway mark has been reached in this summer’s season, a rule change implemented at the start of the season is still a hot topic of conversation on the diamond.

The new rule changes the batter’s count. Each batter who steps to the plate this season in the Mat-Su Softball Association’s recreational leagues is assessed a count of one ball and one strike before a pitch is thrown. MSA umpire in charge Irvin LaVern said the rule was implemented to speed up the tempo of games.

“It makes games go much faster,” LaVern said Wednesday night between umpiring games. “I think it’s been a good rule change so far. It makes players play to the level and the ability that they are supposed to.”

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LaVern said that before the 1-1 count, many players would go to the plate looking to force a walk. Having a strike before a pitch is thrown forces players to put the ball into play.

Putting the ball into play more often is aiding in games finishing on time, LaVern said, noting that games allotted a maximum of 70 minutes are finishing anywhere between five and 15 minutes faster.

“We’re getting games going and finishing as scheduled,” he said. “It’s nice because people don’t have to be here much past 10 p.m. like they have in the past.”

LaVern, who has 16 years of umpiring experience, said games are finishing on schedule 90 percent of the time under the new rule.

Dale Ewart, who plays on a co-rec team on Wednesday nights, said the rule helps pitchers like himself.

“It’s a huge advantage for us, especially if you can get a first pitch strike,” Ewart said.

With one less strike, batters end up being more defensive and are more willing to chase balls they would possibly let by in the past, he said. “Guys are going up there swinging. They don’t have time to work a walk.”

While the majority of the feedback around the league has been in favor of the new rule, there are still opponents to the change.

“I hate it,” Cory Jacobson, a member of the Mug-Shot “D” league team said. Jacobson, who has been playing competitive softball with MSA since she was 8, said the change is counterintuitive to the way the game is coached.

“Kids have been taught their whole life to watch the first strike go by,” she said. “It’s not the way the game is supposed to be played.”

Owen Butcher, a teammate of Jacobson’s, agrees, saying that inconsistent umpiring can hurt batters with the new count.

“I guess it could work if all the umps called the (strike) zone the same,” Butcher said. “But one bad call can screw it all up.”

Jacobson said the rule change has affected the lower level leagues where there are more beginner level players.

“Less experienced players are getting less of a chance to see the ball,” she said.

LaVern noted that he has seen an increase in players striking out in the lower level leagues, but not much of a change for more advanced players.

Strikeouts do happen in slow-pitch, but are rare. Around the fields one will generally know when a strikeout happens by a crescendo of bantering and yells from opponents and — in a many cases — teammates of a player who is caught looking or swinging at strike three. Occasionally, some umpires will get into it as well, calling out strike three like it’s the final out of the World Series. And while this may be a fun aspect to the game, umpires like LaVern don’t relish “ringing” up the batters.

“I don’t enjoy it,” LaVern said. “It’s a hitters game. It doesn’t matter if it’s Roger Clemens up there. In this league the guys are going to hit off of him. And they’re supposed to.”

And although LaVern’s punch out rate has increased this summer, overall he is satisfied with the results from changing the count.

“It just keeps it more interesting. I mean, look at the fans,” he said, pointing towards a full set of stands, “it keeps everybody into it.”