Mike Goff of Mission Viejo is the ultimate slo-pitch softball animal.

The 28-year-old truck driver plays five nights a week on seven teams in five Orange County cities. He spends one night a week as an umpire in Irvine. He spends many weekends playing in local tournaments.

Goff said he has several friends who play three, four or five nights a week. Many of those friends, he said, are having problems with their wives and girlfriends, who are losing the battle for attention to a game their husbands and boyfriends have fallen in love with.

Goff found the perfect solution. He married a woman who plays softball four nights a week.

Such bliss.

But apparently not eternal.

Goff's wife, Mary, wants to have children soon--a proposal Mike has greeted with resistance.

"That's gonna ruin everything, in my opinion," he said. "Mary says, 'Oh, you can still play one night a week.'

"I say, 'No way.' "

Only 10 years ago, adult fast-pitch softball was flourishing in Orange County. But, oh, how long ago it all seems.

Remember the Mission Viejo Vaqueros, a men's professional team in the Western Softball Congress? And the Santa Ana Lionettes of the International Women's Professional Softball Assn.?

Mike Wright, who has been with the City of Santa Ana's recreation division for 20 years, said that a typical summer adult league in 1975 consisted of about 100 fast-pitch teams and 10 slo-pitch teams.

Today, the opposite is true. There are 12 fast-pitch teams in Santa Ana, but the slo-pitch figure has ballooned to 270.

Bob Thrall, senior recreation supervisor for the City of Huntington Beach, said there were 24 fast-pitch teams in his city's leagues as late as 1981.

Today, there are none.

Slo-pitch, however, is thriving in Huntington Beach, where 420 teams are competing this summer--the most in any of the county's 26 incorporated cities.

A check with city recreation departments revealed that there are about 2,800 adult slo-pitch teams affiliated with Orange County cities, many playing year-round. Based on an average of 14 players per roster, there would be about 39,200 participating.

Of course, that figure doesn't account for people such as Goff, who play on several teams. Some teams also play in two or three different leagues.

It would be difficult to determine an exact figure for teams and players, but the picture is clear.

Slo-pitch softball is booming.