A: Spring registration opens in November with a Guaranteed Placement Deadline of February 1st. A late fee will be charged when registering after this date .
Fall Registration opens in May with a Guaranteed Placement Deadline of July 15th. A late fee will be charged when registering after this date .

A: The Spring Season generally runs from April 1st to June 30th.

• 13u and older start practicing a bit earlier (March 15)
• BlastBall starts a bit later (the last weekend in April or first weekend in May)

The Fall Season runs from mid-August to the end of October.

A: In both the Fall and Spring, there are 2 "Baseball days" per week. Blastball is the exception.

During the Spring Season:

• During April, there are two practices, one on a set weekday each week, and one during a set time during the weekend, usually Saturday.
• Starting in May, the weekend practice is replaced with a Saturday game.
• Starting in June, the weekday practice is replaced with a game during one of the weekdays each week (might be different than your practice day).
• NOTE: BlastBall is only on Saturdays for 1 hour (first 30 minutes are skills practice, followed by a 30 minute game).

The Fall Season has a practice during a set weekday and games on Sunday. There is a bonus practice the first Sunday to start things off.

A: Age is based on the Little League Age Determination Chart found below (their age on Aug 31 of the upcoming spring season). You will only be presented with registration options appropriate for your player's age. For the Fall season, the age for the following Spring season is used. Each division is specifically designed to teach age appropriate skills, with the rules reflecting this. Each division is designed to prepare the player for the next.

• BlastBall – League Age 3
• Tball - League Ages 4 and 5
• Rookie – League Ages 5 and 6 (NOTE: 5U players can opt into Tball or Rookie, it is recomended that they play Rookie if they have had one season of Tball already)
• First Pitch – League Age 7 and 8
• Minors – League Ages 9 and 10
• Majors – League Ages 11 and 12
• Intermediate . Juniors – League Ages 13 and 14
• Seniors – League Ages 15 and 16

Age Determination Chart

A:

All players except BlastBall players need to provide baseball pants and baseball gloves.

Protective cups are recomended for any male player, and required for anyone playing in the catcher position.

Cleats (soccer or baseball will work) are recomended (but tennis shoes will do, at younger ages).

Bats and helmets are provided by the team, but many players have their own.

Batting gloves tend to just slow things down and aren't necessary before First Pitch (if then).

Some players that really enjoy the catcher position might benifit from their own catcher's mitt starting at 7 or 8, but the mitt and catcher's gear is provided by the team.

Spring

• Players in BlastBall receive a tshirt and hat
• Players in Tball through Seniors receive an MLB hat, a jersey, and socks.

Fall

• Players receive a hat and t-shirt

A:

We do not generally let players "play down". There are lots of reasons why:

1. Safety.
2. The player eventually discovers that they are in a lower division than their friends, and believe that they have been "held back". This is usually very demoralizing and defeating for them.
3. Players generally play to the level they are presented at. So by putting them in a lower division, you are usually slowing down their development. In addition, the following year they are then faced with trying to jump 2 years of skill vs just moving up 1 with everyone else.

If you are worried about your player's skill level, instead of starting them at a lower level, instead consider spending some time practicing with them at home before the season starts to get them ready. You would be shocked at how much improvment 5-15 minutes per day, 5 days a week will do. Players will notice the tangable improvments and grow in confidence, which will trigger them to want to play more (which only then further improves their skill, and further grows their confidence). Below are some drills that can easily be done at home:

• Simply playing catch. Start out close enough together that you can each catch the ball (even if this is just a few feet appart). As you can both catch 3 in a row, each of you take a step back. Encourage them to catch "fingers up" vs "palm up". With their palm up the ball is likly to skip off their glove and hit them in the chest, neck, or face. Look-Step-Throw-Point. Look at what you are going to throw at. Step to what you will throw at. Throw the ball at what you are throwing at. Then point to what you just threw at. Goal is to increase the distance (slowly) as far as possible.
• Roll them grounders. Start by having them move latterly so the ball passes between their feet. Once they do this, they can "gator" the ball (arms out like the jaws of an alligator, where they "eat" the ball by using their throwing hand to cover the top of their glove/ball). Make sure they bend their knees not bend over. Glove to the ground (get their glove dirty!). When they can do this, have them then throw the ball back to you.
• Popups. Start with a volleyball soccer ball. Toss it 10 feet or so up so that they can catch it (they will want to catch it hands above their heads, so they can see the ball and their hands at the same time). Fingers up and palms out (like they are "high fiving the sky"). Two hands, no glove. Once they do this, switch to a softball or tennis ball (still no glove). Once they do this, switch to a baseball (still no glove... be sure to keep it low). Once they do this, have them put their glove on and catch it the exact same way (hands above their hands, fingers up, palm out). If their palm faces them, the ball is likly to ricochet and hit them. Increase the hight slowly. Then have them have to move to catch it.
• Hitting. Hitting of a tee is great! In addition, you can throw wiffle balls and have them swing their own (normal) bat (throw overhand from a shorter distance). If they can do this, switch to throwing foam golfballs. If they can do this and they want more of a challenge, get a length of 1 inch PVC to use as a bat with the foam golfballs.
• NOTE: No matter what your age or skill level, the two single best things you can do while practicing at home are:
  1. Hitting off a tee into a net. (not a popback net, but one designed to "catch" the ball) Make sure to treat each swing like it is during a game. Your goal is to hit it horizontally into the net (not over the net) as hard as you can.
  2. Long-toss (playing catch as far as you can throw and catch the ball, make the throw is as horizontal as possible... but starting off it is ok to put some arc to the throw.). If you don't have someone to play with, then standing in front of the same net you hit off a tee into, and pretend you are throwing it to someone far away.

A:

We do not recomend that players "play up". There are lots of reasons why:

1. Safty.
2. Eventually, a player will want to play their appropriate age again, and then this feels like "repeating a grade" or "being held back".
3. Players want to play with their friends and they usually are not when playing in a division that does not corrisponds to their age.
4. Each division is designed to teach specific skills (which are more important in the next division). Even if they have one skill mastered, they might still need to learn the other skills.
5. We already allow 5u players to self select into either Tball or Rookie, and reciently opened up First Pitch to 7U players. If your player is one of the higher skilled players after 8U, one option might be Rec+ (Firehawk) or Select baseball (Diamond Elite).
6. If your player is younger than 8, and you are wanting them to play in a division higher than their age would recomend, please consider the following:
   • Blastball is the only option for 3U players (we will generally not allow a 3U player to play Tball unless the parent is offering to be the Head Coach of the team... this is due to too much feedback in this area).
   • We recomend all 4U players to play Tball, as they would never have played baseball before (other than perhaps Blastball).
   • We recomend all 5U players to play Rookie baseball, unless they have never played baseball before (then play Tball).
   • If your player is 6U and you want them to play First Pitch, consider if they can do the following (if they can't do at least 3-4 out of the following 5, then they can probably still benifit from being in Rookie Baseball):
     1. Can they hit the ball through the infield (in the area or on the ground) off of a pitch (thrown or from the machine), within 3 strikes, 75% of the time.
     2. Can throw and catch the ball 90% of the time, with a stationary player, from a distance of 75 feet (distance between SS and 1B).
     3. Can field a grounder hit within 15 feet of them (where they have to move 15 feet to field the ball), 90% of the time.
     4. Can catch a popup at a hight of 30 feet (about as high as a house) where they have to move 15-25 feet to get it, 80% of the time.
     5. In the catcher position, can recieve (catch or block) 90% of pitches thrown for a strike (via a machine or by hand).

A:

The Firehawk program is a Rec+ option for players who want more than the intraleague baseball LSO offers, but do not want to choose select baseball (either due to financial, skill, or time commitment concerns). Firehawk baseball (a merger of the Firebird and Thunderhawk names) is a Little League program that is more of an All Star format. You must tryout and make a Firehawk team. The Firehawk teams play slightly more games vs the in-house LSO teams (20-25 vs 12-15), have a slighly longer season (start with some indoor time in February, culminating with the All Star tournament in July), and play other area All-Star level Little League teams and Bronze level select baseball teams. It is a great middle step between the in-house LSO baseball league and the Select Diamond Elite program.