Habersham County’s new Youth Baseball and Softball League is preparing for its inaugural season. It replaces Little League, which members voted to disband in December.
The new league will operate under the Georgia Recreation and Park Association, which is the same association that governs the county’s recreational basketball program. The primary difference is, an independent board will oversee this new league.
Habersham County Youth Baseball and Softball League President Jarrod Bingham says the move away from Little League to GRPA will save thousands of dollars a year in Little League dues and provide more autonomy. “We felt, as a board, that would help make it easier for us to do what was best for our unique community.”
Bingham, a former middle school baseball coach, says some of the league rules are “better” under GRPA. The league allows machine and coach pitch for players aged 8 and under. It also has more lenient base running rules for those 12 and under.
“One of the advantages to GRPA is it’s more like real baseball. It gives pitchers a chance to learn how to hold runners, and it gives our runners a chance to run the bases under that sort of pressure,” he says.
Despite dropping its affiliation, Bingham stresses there’s no bad will between the Board and Little League.
“I have great respect for Little League. It’s done a lot of good. The outgoing board ran a great program. If not for their work and recommendations, we would have kept full steam ahead with what they were doing,” he says. “Parents won’t see many changes. It was a very well run program. It’s still going to be run by our board. To the average parent, they won’t see a big difference.”
While the league changes may barely be noticeable, there will be some clear changes on the field this year, primarily due to the pandemic.
The HCYBS League does not plan to hold opening day ceremonies out of concern it would be a “super-spreader” event. Also, Bingham plans to encourage coaches not to use the dugouts during practice. The board will give parents the option of allowing their children to sit in the dugout or stand outside it during games.
Covid safety is an obvious concern, and it’s obvious the board takes it seriously.
“On opening day, we’re just going to play baseball games so people can be more spread out. We’re going to focus on coach education, teaching coaches to respect the boundaries of people who are social distancing,” Bingham says. The league will also give coaches sanitizer to help clean equipment and encourage players not to share equipment unless it’s been sanitized.
The league will retain the best traditions of softball and baseball but in modified form.
“We’re going to train our coaches not to come together at the end and huddle up. If you’re going to do it, do it spread out,” Bingham says. Also, there will be no high fives at the end of the game; instead, players will walk past one another and tip their hats.
The league still has a division for special needs players and will participate in All-Stars and travel ball. The Board is even offering to host travel ball teams at its facilities. “We’re basically offering for travel ball teams to come in with their uniforms and give them games with other travel ball teams.”
There will still be fundraisers. “We really try to keep our player fees at under $100. We barely break even. We rely on fundraising,” Bingham says. “Our margins are very small.”
Spring ball usually attracts 400-500 players in Habersham. And while some parents have expressed their concern about Covid, Bingham hopes to dispel that by employing strong mitigation measures. He says he ran the board’s plan by an infectious disease professional at Habersham Medical Center, and “she thought that was a good plan.”
“I’m hoping if we can educate our coaches to respect the fact that some parents will be worried, maybe that will make a difference,” he says, adding that he’d be surprised if they lost any players. “I would hate that. I think we’re going to offer a really quality program a lot like it’s been in the past, but probably better.”
For registration information, click here.
