HOULTON, Maine – Summer baseball organizers have switched their name and are looking to add more baseball and softball diamonds in the town.
For the last several years, youth summer baseball has been operating under the Cal Ripken Baseball Division under the banner of the Babe Ruth League. Now, it is reverting back to Little League.
“There were several reasons our league felt that Little League offered better opportunities for our youth,” said Little League president Ben Drew.
First, Little League carries a less expensive insurance. Secondly, Little League is more popular statewide with 16 leagues in the northern Maine District (District #3) alone compared to four for Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken.
“The Little League rules, in my opinion, are more player-friendly,” added Drew.
An illustration Drew uses is: Little League rules stipulate that all players have minimum play requirements for playing time in games, where Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken does not. Little League has stricter pitching rules to help protect youngsters’ arms – Little League players age 10 and under are limited to 75 pitches per day and players 11-12 years of age are limited to 85 pitches per day (regular season and tournament games). Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken allows 9-12 year old pitchers to only pitch six innings per week during the regular season, but then these players are allowed to pitch six innings every other game. This means that pitchers could possibly pitch 12 innings in a one day in a tournament. This could be potentially bad for the player’s throwing arm.
“The change also will allow our players an extra year in the older division,” Drew said. “Babe Ruth was for players ages 13-15, however, the Little League Junior League and Senior League are designed for players ages 13-16. An added bonus for Senior League players is whatever team is the District champion gets an automatic bid to the Senior League World Series in Bangor.”
Not only does Little League cover youth baseball, it also envelopes a softball division, too.
“This will be a great opportunity for our area girls,” Drew said. “It will now give them an opportunity to start playing softball in the spring, instead of waiting until July to play.”
With approval from SAD 29, the group is looking to carve out four new baseball and softball fields next to Houlton Elementary School and Houlton Southside School to go along with the existing two ball diamonds in Community Park.
“This is a big step in the right direction for our area’s spring sports programs,” said Drew. “Our teams are desperate for more fields to play on.”
Of the eight Little League-aged teams, each team had only had three to four practices for an entire season.
“With eight teams, we had at least four, and sometimes five, nights a week where the fields were being used for games,” Drew explained. “Throw in rain days and the problem gets worse.”
As the league gathers volunteers and sponsors, $80,000 is needed for the “Field of Dreams” Complex to become a reality.
“By having fields located near the elementary and Southside schools, SAD 29 will be able to use the fields for activities such as gym classes and during recess,” Drew said.
The cost includes fencing, backstops and dugouts for the four ballfields.
“This figure does not include the extensive groundwork, which also needs to be done, in one of the field locations,” Drew pointed out. “If possible, we would like to have most of the groundwork done this fall, so we can begin playing on these four fields in the spring.”
The League’s lofty goal is to add three more fields adjacent to Houlton High School for the junior and senior high baseball and softball teams to use for practices and games by 2012.
“The town now has four baseball teams vying for one field and three softball teams doing likewise,” Drew said. “This makes it very hard to schedule games and practices for teams.”
The Houlton Area Little League Baseball/Softball, Inc., is a domestic non-profit corporation, whose main mission is to create opportunities for area youth to participate in the sports of baseball and softball. “Wholesome activities such as these, give our area youth the opportunity to learn things that they will be able to apply in their lives as they mature and become adults,” Drew said. “Values such as teamwork, good sportsmanship, and a positive work ethic are things that you hope to see youngsters carry with them into adulthood.”
Anyone interested in contributing to the “Field of Dreams” project should contact Drew at 532-2657.
