A Day in the West has a mystery to solve beginning Thursday, June 2, when the champs of the Sedona Adult Softball League open their title defense at Posse Grounds Park.

Head coach Pedro Ortega, in last year’s title game, defeated Tortas de Fuego, avenging his loss the season before to most of the same players when they played as Los Illegals.

But both Tortas de Fuego and third-place Big O Tires have been scattered to the four winds of the league, presented by the Sedona Parks and Recreation department.

“There’s a lot of players over there,” said Mauro Trahin Sr., former Enchantment Resort player as well as Tortas and Illegals head coach, whose teammates are not following him to L’Auberge de Sedona. “They’re not playing. I asked. I would have taken at least three or four players. L’Auberge wouldn’t let them.”

So while the Cottonwood softball leagues absorb most of last year’s Sedona runners-up, in their place, just one team has stepped forward — the Balloonatics, under head coach Larry Perry.

The Mighty Ducks look to have the strongest infield behind Trahin, who will pitch with 19 mostly veteran L’Auberge players looking to get over the fifth-place, 6-6-1 hump they got stuck on last summer.

Chad DeWitt, Greg Hanss, Rene Herrera and the Merrills — Chase and Nicole — form a fast defensive core, along with new veteran pickup Jesus Islava.

“He’s a pretty fast player,” Trahin said. “I think we have a good chance to win.”

League quarterfinalist Another Team returns under new coach Geoffrey Messer and slightly new name: The Other Team.

The Sedona Red Rock News, under head coach and first baseman Ron Eland, looks to prove it can catch fire by July.

Added firepower this season has arrived in the form of shortstop Rich Tardio, while Kyle Larson and Michael Rinker form a solid returning core.

Infielders Christopher Fox Graham and Jeff “Tex” Harris have increased their hitting potency in the off-season as well.

But if the Paperboys are to build on their two-win first season and surprise some lower-division teams, the key may be the outfield defense of returners Zack Garcia and Andrew Pardiac.

Also back is head coach Sonny Rodriguez’s Rokzoo Bucket List, featuring pitcher Don Bauder, and Red Rocks Rotary, with pitchers Jason Bruce and Dan Schneberger, catcher Rick Wesselhoff, infielders Mike Hughes and Ryan Taylor and outfielders John Bradshaw and Cindy Hauserman.

Sedona Red Rock High School graduates Justice Keane, Garrison Skornik and Stefan Zielinski can also be the X factors defensively for Rotary head coach Nick Hastings.

But no team was able to find the answer last season against A Day in the West pitcher Jason Stewart or infielders Jesse Timm and Jesse Vawcil.

“The plan is to do things regarding the schedule the same way as … last year,” said Elizabeth Ginsberg, the department’s new Aquatics and Recreation supervisor, following the preseason coaches’ meeting May 24. “Then we’ll have our tournament.”

Over the next seven weeks, Ginsberg said, each team will play each other at least once for a total of 10 games, including several doubleheaders.

“I think it’s good,” said Trahin. “Sometimes, you only play one game, you don’t want to play really hard.”

Then the league will split into A and B divisions, “which I hope will have five teams in one division and four in the other,” Ginsberg added. “Those teams will all play each other over the next three weeks.”

At least two weeks of playoffs will follow, concluding with the championship by Thursday, Sept. 1.

For the second straight summer, the league is using wooden bats. Sedona Summer Adult Softball’s “equalizer” rule restricts any team in the league from having more than one home run more than its opponent in a game. Additional homers are ruled outs.

“With the one-for-one rule, power is not always your friend,” Hastings said.

With a one-hour time limit for each game, no team is allowed to score more than five runs in any inning except for the last one.

The league also starts each at-bat with a one-ball, one-strike count, with each batter allowed to foul off a pitch only once.

For the full Sedona Adult Softball League opening night schedule, please see the Wednesday, June 1, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.