League Levels

Tri-Cities has six levels of baseball for children from ages 5-17.

T-Ball

T-Ball is for children ages 5-6.

In T-Ball, children hit the ball from a tee at home plate and run to first base. The last batter runs all the way around to home plate. The fielders get the ball and throw it to first base. Each inning, the players in the field rotate so they get to try every position. The number of fielders in T-Ball is variable, so that everyone can always play. Every player bats once each inning. Score is not kept in T-Ball.

Farm

Farm is for children ages 6-11. Farm is a non-competitive level that teaches more about the game of baseball, and prepares children for the next level which has live pitching.

In Farm, a pitching machine is used for consistency early in the season, and later a coach may pitch from his knee. Balls and strikes are not called, instead, the child must hit one of 6 good pitches. Up to 10 players may take the field each inning in a Farm game, and the game may proceed with as few as 5 players on a team.

Children get equal playing time, and rotate to different positions that they can play safely, e.g. players will play first base when they can safely catch a ball thrown to them. Score is not kept in Farm games (kids may keep track, but adults should not talk about the score even if they know). There are no umpires in Farm, so calls are made by a designated adult nearby and gracefully accepted by everyone else (no matter what they saw). An inning in Farm ends when a team gets 3 outs, or 5 runs are scored.

Minors

Minors is aimed at skill development and fun. Children must try out and be drafted for Minors, and the ages are 8-12. The league has no formal standings, and every team makes it to the playoffs. We do keep score in the games, and keep statistics on individual performance to use for feedback and at year's end to select postseason teams. Kids do the pitching, and umpires call balls and strikes, and make calls in the field. Base stealing is allowed in Minors. Minors games have a run limit in all but the last inning of each game.

All of the children get equal playing time (assuming they come to practice regularly). Where they play depends on their abilities. Not every child will pitch every week - wome will, and some may never pitch in a game but all will get a chance to try if they want to and work at it. The same goes for other positions. During the regular season, we do continuous batting (every kid bats).

The Minors teams play just under half of their games against teams from Cupertino American, the league just across Bollinger. Nine players must be present for a Minors game to be played, so players must make every effort to attend each game and practice (2-4 per week), and must let their coach know in advance if they cannot make it.

Majors

Tri-Cities Majors is a competitive league for 10-12 year olds. A Majors-level post-season team could conceivably make it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

The rules are similar to Minors, other than no continuous batting, and no maximum runs in an inning. Players are guaranteed a chance to bat and play 3 innings in the field each game, but playing time above the minimum is based on skill and the game situation. The fields in Majors are the same size as the fields in the lower levels (60 feet from base to base, and 46 feet from the pitcher's mound to home), and as a result the time batters have to see a pitch in Majors is about the same as the time a player in the Major leagues would have!

Juniors

The Juniors level is for 13-14 year olds, and is played on a standard field with 90 feet between bases and 60 feet from the mound to home plate is the same as in the major leagues. Juniors will play most of their games with players from other leagues within District 44. Like many sports at this level, Juniors practice frequently during the season, sometimes as much as 5 times a week.

Seniors

Seniors is for players aged 15-17. Players on the Tri-Cities seniors often also play for their high-school team.

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