After more than a decade absence, fastpitch is back in the Yukon.

The news is music to the ears of many ball players, who are preparing for the inaugural season of the newly created Yukon Fastball League.

This year, the Yukon Fastball Association (YFA) has limited the number of league teams to four and capped the player entries to 60. So far there is around 45 individuals signed up to play.

Members on the YFA executive are excited about the league's start up date, which is June 7.

"I am very optimistic, we have had a lot of interest," said Currie Dixon, YFA director.

"We just had an open registration at the (Opening) softball tournament (this past weekend). It's really positive, I think we are going to have a really good season."

Dixon said in the past attempts have been made to organize a Yukon fastpitch league, however the difference this time around came thanks to a partnership between two types of ball players.

The group includes a combination of baseball and fastpitch players, who have been busy this spring making the arrangements needed to begin a new league.

The fastball schedule will run from June to mid-August and feature two games played each Sunday at the Pepsi Softball Centre's Diamond Two.

Dixon said George Arcand, who is the executive director for Softball Yukon, has been a big help in making it possible to offer a fastball league.

"George has been very supportive," he said. "He has an interest in seeing fastball develop in the Yukon."

Dixon said the first season won't include a playoff round and will instead conclude with the Discovery Day Fastball Tournament, held every August in Dawson City.

"If we want to host a tournament next year or have a more formal playoff structure we could look at that, but this year our bottom line is just to get the league going."

Dixon said the league will be open to both male and female players, adding they can sign up at the Sport Yukon Administration Building or by emailing fastballyukon@gmail.com.

"The thing is we're just looking for fastball players, so it's not an issue of gender or age," he said. "We are just looking for people who think they can compete in a competitive league."

The registration deadline is June 7.

The league will also benefit from having two certified umpires: Mike Kitchen and YFA president Greg Cowman.

The YFA hopes to develop the game as a whole, which includes both players and umpires, Dixon said.

Roadhouse, Casa Loma, Flipper Joes Pub and Cinderwood will be the four corporate league sponsors this year.

"We think this is a great starting point," said Dixon. "I think four teams gets the structure in place."

Other members on the YFA executive include vice-president Mike Tuton, Josh Clark and Danny Johnson.

Arcand said there are a lot of people in the Yukon that want to play fastpitch.

"They needed somebody to organize it and those guys have stepped forward," he said. "So it looks good. I think by doing it on Sunday nights and not trying to go bigger than that, getting it established through that means it will work really well"