Let there be light. The fact that UMass doesn’t currently have lights at its softball facility has the MIAA Softball Committee seeking alternative venues to avoid a potential nightmare of a long slate of state championship games extending into darkness. “People were pretty stressed about it, we were up against it,” said MIAA associate director Sherry Bryant. “We want to look at some other places with lights so we never run into daylight issues.” Among the potential sites discussed at Tuesday’s meeting were UMass-Dartmouth and Worcester State as well as Taunton and Lowell. Bryant was quick to add that UMass is still a terrific venue and since several Western Mass. teams have done well in the postseason (Turners Falls and Greenfield for starters), it would make sense to have those games at Sortino Field. There was a healthy discussion about the possibility of a 1A tournament in softball. Committee member David Consalvi of Cape Cod Tech opened it up by expressing interest in the topic. Consalvi mentioned the recent dominance of Taunton as an example of why a 1A tournament for softball might provide a better balance for the rest of the schools in the field. In its current four-year run as Div. 1 state champions, Taunton has won the first two rounds of the tournament by a 99-5 margin. “A 1A tournament would eliminate teams like Taunton beating teams by 20 in the first two rounds of the tournament,” Consalvi said. “When I was back in school, hockey going to the 1A made the other (divisional) tournaments more competitive. I think the idea does have merit – there are more opportunities for other schools.” Several members asked about how a possible 1A tournament would come about. Bryant was quick to explain if a 1A ever comes to fruition down the road, it would not be the same as the previous 1A setup (double elimination, teams selected by committee for starters). “It would have to be consistent with the other tournament pieces,” Bryant said. Quabbin athletic director Mark Miville suggested if softball is truly interested in exploring a 1A tournament, they should contact the baseball folks (who clearly have an appetite for it) and try to mirror what they are doing. Karen Tropp Veronesi put out the idea of polling some of the top teams from a year ago and gauge what their interest would have been in a 1A tournament had one existed.