One thing that local recreational sports leagues have in common with their professional, high-paid counterparts is roster changes.

In the case of the Sedona Adult Summer Softball League, though, the changes are unknown to everyone else except for the individual teams. Also, at the end of the day, everyone who plays is there just to have fun.

“It looks like they’ve moved some people around, and I know we’ve got a new team,” Rokzoo Bucket List’s Don Bauder said. “It’s always fun because this is a good field, and it’s a good environment for softball.”

Returning to the Posse Grounds Park’s softball fields on June 7 was like not knowing what offseason moves happened before Opening Day of the MLB season. It was unknown who would return with their respective team, or who would perhaps switch allegiances.

It became apparent that a number of changes occurred between some of the Adult Summer Softball League’s top teams from the summer of 2017. A Day in the West, last year’s champion, is replenished with a handful of fresh faces — fresh as in fresh out of high school or still in it. Without a league in Cottonwood, players came to Sedona’s.

Rokzoo, which was a quarterfinalist last season, picked up some of A Day in the West’s departures. Pagos, a semifinalist last year, is now called the Dough Boys. Reddell Construction is now the Hooligans.

Dirty Rats, L’Auberge Mighty Ducks and Red Rocks Rotary, last year’s runner-up, all return. ABC Body Shop and Rough Country Pools & Spa no longer play, leaving the league at seven teams.

It all adds up to what may become a league full of parity this summer.

Rokzoo came out with a victory over Dirty Rats, 6-3, in the first game of the season on the upper field. On the lower field, the Dough Boys beat Rotary 5-3.

The middle set of games were the least competitive of the bunch.

Rokzoo, which also has new players from Rotary and L’Auberge, beat the young A Day in the West team 13-3 on the lower field. Rokzoo led 3-0 after the first inning on shortstop Taylor Mathe’s RBI triple, and the lead went to 6-0 in the top of the third inning.

A Day in the West got on the board through pitcher Jason Steward’s RBI single to score shortstop and recent Sedona Red Rock High School graduate Michael Ortega. Mathe drove a two-run double down the first base line to make it 9-2 in the fifth. Mathe drove in the final run as well, after a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Stephen Sarysz and a double by Hector Escamilla.

The team sports five current or just-graduated Red Rock baseball players. Pedro Ortega, the A Day in the West captain and Red Rock head baseball coach, said it was his goal to get his high school guys on the team to learn and gain experience.

“We’ve got some younger kids who’ve never played [slow pitch softball],” Steward said. “Once they get used to the game, once they get used to the slow pitch, I think we’ll be fine.”

Meanwhile on the upper field, Hooligans beat L’Auberge 22-1. The Hooligans opened a 6-0 lead early on and did not look back. Koda Keane made it 15-1 later on and Milo Villalobos drove in the final run in the fifth inning.

The final games of the evening were the most competitive, highlighted by the back-and-forth affair between Dirty Rats and L’Auberge.

L’Auberge went up 4-0 early on, the scoring run capped by Joe Grijalva’s RBI double. The Dirty Rats answered in the third frame. Miguel Gonzalez drove home Joe Machado, then Andres Martinez tacked on an RBI, then Ian Gilbert followed with a double before Doug Barnard’s two-run single tied the game.

Dirty Rats went up 7-6 in the fifth inning before L’Auberge grabbed the lead once again, 8-7, in the sixth. Into extra innings the game went, where Dirty Rats’ Ivan Gonzalez was the walk-off hero.

“It was fun, first I’ve got to shout out my team,” Dirty Rats player Kevin Martinez said. “We wanted to execute and that’s what we did …. I’m happy for the team. We’ve got new additions, but I’m excited.”

The Dough Boys came away 6-1 winners over the Hooligans on the lower field. The Dough Boys, the home team, went up 1-0 when Nando Machado’s fly ball into right field was mishandled. A double play, sometimes a rare play to see in the league, cut the threat off from there.

After consecutive singles, Villalobos tied the game for the Hooligans with a single of his own. They followed it up by retiring all three Dough Boys batters in the bottom half of the frame.

However the Hooligans, sporting old school styled green uniforms, could not generate any more offense. In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Dough Boys took the lead for good.

The Dough Boys’ Oscar Martinez hit a ground ball to Hooligans pitcher Jeff Lynch, who successfully threw Martinez out. However, the following throw to second base resulted in an error, allowing Carlos Rodriguez to cross home plate.

Machado followed with a two-run home run to right field, the first in the league in 2018, to make it 4-1. They tacked on two runs for the final score of 6-1.

“It’s always good to get a win. It’s all about just coming out and having fun,” Machado said.

The first set of games for Thursday, June 14, will see matchups between what appear to be some of the league’s strongest teams in the early going. Rotary will take on the Hooligans while the Dough Boys and Rokzoo will square off.