MENIFEE -- It was a bit of a role reversal.

Typically, Mary Bradley takes her 11-year-old son, Ricky Flinner, to baseball practice. But last Wednesday, Ricky took her to softball practice -- well, sort of.

Ricky's a tad too young to drive, but Bradley says he encouraged her to join Menifee's new 45-and-over women's softball league, which meets Wednesday nights at Wheat Field Park.

"My mom needs to be a little buffer," said Ricky, as his mom feigned anger. "And I have nothing else to do Wednesday nights."

Bradley, 48, played softball in high school and again in her late 20s on a co-ed team, but "retired" some 20 years ago.

"It's very odd. I'm usually the one carting him to baseball practice," Bradley said. "Finally, it's my time."

That's a sentiment shared by dozens of women across Riverside and San Diego counties -- that a 45-plus women's softball league is long overdue here, especially considering there's a demand for one, if not more.

For years, league founder Gayle Hatten and others from Southwest County made the two-hour round-trip to Orange County -- "just for an hour and 10 minutes of softball," she said.

Hatten says she knew there was a market for a league south and east of Orange County, but even she underestimated the demand: Four dozen women showed up at Wheat Field Park last Wednesday, hoping to play.

All did.

Hatten divided the women into four teams. Two fields were needed to accommodate the large turnout -- even though Hatten had only reserved one. Valley-Wide Recreational District, which oversees the park, granted her a second field.

"Would you ever have thought so many old women would want to play ball?" asked Hatten, 57 of Temecula.

So, she says she campaigned for a women's softball league to be hosted in Temecula and Murrieta, but officials of both cities wouldn't bite.

"It certainly is sexism," Hatten said. "(Men) get the better fields, they get better hours, they get priority."

The snubs, however, didn't defeat her. She continued her campaign, this time in Menifee. Valley-Wide obliged.

"It's worked out better (in Menifee)," Hatten said. "It's more central. We're pulling down people from Fontana, Corona, Hemet and Lake Elsinore."

Most of them are upbeat ballplayers. Unlike many men's leagues, there was little razzing going on last Wednesday. Most of the women -- in both dugouts -- cheered when third basewoman Charlene Gates, 52, of Temecula stretched to her left to clutch a laser line drive, preventing two runs from scoring.

The bases were loaded. After reaching to her left to catch the rocket, she bolted to the base, nearly doubling-off the runner at third. But the runner just sneaked back to the bag.

Gates says she hadn't played much softball until about a year ago. She surmised she learned by osmosis.

"I watched a lot of baseball with my husband," she said.

Most of the women are in their late 40s and 50s, but a few are active seniors who likely could beat a sedentary 30-something in a race -- either sprinting or long distance.

Mary Dyer, 71, of Menifee hadn't played softball for nearly four decades -- until a year ago. The former roller derby star for the Brooklyn Red Devils now is a full-time softball player and a part-time cheerleader. Yes, she's in extraordinary shape.

Last Wednesday, she cheerily offered advice to some newcomers: "You have to remember it takes a while to get into a groove."

She then turned to a reporter, and smirked.

"This is how I've stayed young," she said.

The league meets Wednesday nights at 6:30 p.m. All women 45 and older are eligible to play. The cost per week is just $2.

- Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.