Youth league baseball, softball organizers hoping for banner year

Posted March 17, 2015 at 5:26 pm

The Albany Independent League has already begun sign-ups for the 2015 youth baseball league and in just two short weeks, the league already has more than 60 youth signed up

League organizers are quick to point out, however, that more participation is needed in order to guarantee a successful year.

AIL President John Mason said during in interview this week with the Clinton County News, that the league had more than 200 signees last season, and he is hoping for more this season.

“We have the Wee Ball coming back, which is three years old,” Mason said. “We have a new league this year and we are not sure which age we are going to make it, but it could be for nine and under girls softball.”

Mason said they are looking at adding this age group in order to better prepare the girls fundamentally.

“Some of the older girls are struggling with fundamentals right now,” Mason said. “It depends on our numbers of our 10, 11, and 12 year olds. If we have enough of them then we won’t have to add the nine year olds to that group.”

With the boys, Mason said the middle school is allowing fifth graders to play middle school baseball this year, so that might slow down signups for the league’s 11 to 12 year old group.

“They were kind enough to give me a schedule so we can work around that,” Mason said. “We want to let the parents know that we are not going to interfere with that schedule, so maybe that will help and we can get the kids to play.”

As of right now, the AIL hasn’t set a date for an opening day in stone. Mason said with the last day of signups being on March 28, they might move it back a week from the original proposed opening day of April 18.

“The snow has put us behind and we couldn’t get into the park,” Mason said. “If we push it back a week that will give them at least three weeks of practice, that way kids can get used to each other and teams can come together a little bit better.”

During Monday’s meeting, Mason said he is going to propose a different method of drawing up the draft, which will put players on different teams. In recent years, Mason said the coaches have come together and picked the players.

“We are thinking about doing it a lot like a golf scramble,” Mason said. “This is my second year as president and before that I coached, so I kind of know the kids. We are thinking about doing a hat with A players and B players and so on. Last year we kind of tried to do it out of our heads and it didn’t come out equal.”

Mason said the reason for redesigning the draft is to make sure all teams in each age group are even with talent in order to make the games more competitive.

“I like for parents to come and watch a good game,” Mason said.

As is the case every year, volunteers are always welcome. Mason said they are in need of coaches and if anyone wishes to coach, you can contact him at 606-306-1890.

“We need all the help we can get,” Mason said. “We will have a list of rules and things they need to know for each league.”

This year the player fee has gone up slightly, but Mason said that’s because this year they figured insurance in the total price.

To sign up, parents will pay $35 for the first player and $30 for each additional player.

“Surrounding counties are $40, so I don’t think that’s too bad,” Mason said. “Last year we ended up losing a dollar per kid because we didn’t figure insurance into the total figure. Little League and Cal Ripkin insurance is so high we had to raise the price a little.”

Mason said he is excited about the new season starting up and he hopes to have a record number of kids come out to play baseball.

“We have a lot of plans for this year,” Mason said. “My goal is to make baseball better in Clinton County. Baseball, right now, is the only sport losing a fan base. Even in the majors, there are a lot of people getting away from baseball.”

Signups will continue to be held at IGA until March 28 from 9 a.m. to noon each Saturday.

“We are also having a co-ed softball tournament in order to raise money for the league. As of now it will be held on April 4 at Mountain View Park,” Mason said. “Anyone who wants to put a team in, it’s $125 per team and first and second place trophies will be awarded.”