Spring training starts for young baseball players

WORLAND- The MLB season started Sunday afternoon and now it is time for the young future baseball stars to begin their season as well.

Cal Ripken

The Worland Cal Ripken baseball team has been practicing for weeks now in preparation of the season. Their first tournament will be on May 13-14 in Pocatello, Idaho.

Cal Ripken is a division within the Babe Ruth League, within the Cal Ripken division the Worland team competes in the major/60 division. The major/60 players age range goes from 8 to 10 years old, the base paths are 60-feet, the pitching distance is 46-feet and stealing isn't allowed.

Last season was a positive one for the team, as Worland successfully defended their state title from a year ago and advanced to the Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament in West Linn, Oregon.

At the regional tournament Worland would drop their first two games, one against eventual champion Kennewick American, and be eliminated. This season though the boys will be the older team as in seasons past they were 8- and 9-year-olds competing against 10-year-olds.

Pitch, Hit and Run

The Pitch, Hit and Run competition will be on April 30 at Newell Sargent Legion field in Worland. Parents are encouraged to sign up their young baseball players from now until April 30. Parents can either sign up the day of the competition, prior to the 1 p.m. start. If they'd like to take care of it early they can pick up a form at the Worland Community Center or go online mlb.mlb.com/mlb/kids/phr_participant_registration.jsp and choose Worland as a location.

Winners will advance to sectionals which will also be hosted in Worland on May 21. The winners from sectionals go on to the team championships that will be held in June at Coors Field in Denver, Colo. Winners from the team championships move on to the National Finals held during MLB All-Star Week in San Diego, Calif.

During the Worland hosted Pitch, Hit and Run events the American Legion members will run concessions with portion of the proceeds going to the baseball programs. Both events will also be run by volunteers.

The age verification for the competition will be as follows.

Age7/8 July 18, 2006 – July 17, 2008; age 9/10 July 18, 2004 – July 17, 2006; age 11/12 July 18, 2002 – July 17, 2004; age 13/14 July 18, 2000 – July 17, 2002.

City Leagues

Also during the Hit, Pitch and Run parents will be encouraged to sign up their baseball players for the various city leagues Worland provides. The leagues available are Tee Ball (ages 5-6), Rookies (ages 7-8), Minors (ages 9-10), Majors(ages 11-12), Babe Ruth (ages 13-15) and Senior Babe Ruth (ages 16-18).

Practices will start in May and games have been slated around mid-May.

One of the organizers Mary Leyva mentioned, "Numbers for the city league programs have grown each year. And there was a time when if you went down to the ballpark there'd be a handful of games. Now if you were to wander down to Newell Sargent Park during the summer you will see all the fields full, which is pretty amazing."