The Georgia High School Association began offering a state championship in fast-pitch softball in 1994, based on a request by some Atlanta area schools, GHSA executive director Tommy Guillebeau said. We brought in all of their schools and used that as an experiment to see how much interest there would be. It mushroomed from there. Gwinnett County jumped in. Cobb County jumped in.
Some schools feature both teams.
Madison County made the switch to fast-pitch in varsity in 1998. Their decision was based on gaining scholarships for their players. We felt like we were handicapping them as far as getting college scholarships. Since going to fast-pitch, we've had one girl, who wanted to go into nursing, get a chance to go to school on a scholarship. But like other schools, Banks County is planning to make the move to fast-pitch in the next two years.