York County Little League: News & Information

Registration for Spring 2012 Season Is Almost Over

Fees for Walk-In registration and On-line registration are the same.

Early Spring Season 2012 Registration Fees are $55 for ages 8 and below and $80 for ages 9 and above.   $200 Family Maximum.

The normal, in-person, stand-in-line registration were completed on: 

Saturday January 14th, 10:00am - 2:00pm at GRAFTON BETHEL Elementary
and
Saturday January 21st, 10:00am - 2:00pm at GRAFTON BETHEL Elementary - Last Chance for Walk-In Registration.

 A new YCLL player, is any player who has not previously played on a YCLL 2011 Tee Ball, Baseball, or Softball team.

If you are registering a new YCLL player, you must still provide, in person, the player's proof of age and proof of residency. This is a Little League International requirement. Failure to provide these documents will prevent us from assigning a try-out time slot or placing the player on any team.

Acceptable forms for proof of age documentation can be found by clicking  HERE  (Note: a "copy" of a birth certificate is not acceptable.)

Acceptable forms for proof of residency documentation (you must bring three) can be found by clicking  HERE.

Get a blank registration form by clicking ==>> HERE

Registration now closed for Softball Ages 9-12. Contact the player agent to be placed on a waiting list.

Registration now closed for Baseball Ages 9-12. Contact the player agent to be placed on a waiting list.

Online Registration closes for Baseball Age 8 on Feb 23rd. After Feb 23rd contact the player agent.

Online Registration closes for Tee Ball and Baseball Ages 5-7 and Softball Ages 5-8 on Feb 25th. After Feb 25th contact the player agent.

Online Registration closes for Baseball Ages 13-16 and Softball Ages 13-14 on Mar 8th. After Mar 8th contact the player agent.

Click  ==== >>  Online Registration

NOTE FOR SENIOR SOFTBALL PLAYERS AGES 15 & 16 : Last season we had only 5 Senior Softball players ages 15 or 16 register. Due to the low numbers, this season, all Senior Softball players desiring to register must contact the Player Agent at playeragent@ycll.net and request to be placed on the Senior Softball waiting list. We must get at least 12 players on the list in order to field a Senior Softball team. That team will play against other Senior Softball teams on the peninsula.

Contact the YCLL Player Agent at 817-7341 or PlayerAgent@ycll.net

For Spring Baseball & T-Ball players, 2012 League Age for Spring Ball is the age of the player on April 30, 2012.

For Spring Softball players, 2012 League Age for Spring Ball is the age of the player on December 31, 2011.

Players must be at least League Age 5 years old and cannot be older than League Age 16 years to be eligible to play Spring Little League T-Ball, Baseball or Softball this Fall.

Girls with a birthdate of Jan, Feb, Mar, or April 2007 can only register for Spring BASEBALL Tee Ball, they are not old enough to play SOFTBALL.

Requests for refunds must be in writing, accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope, mailed to:

YCLL
P.O. BOX 1730
YORKTOWN, VA 23692-1730

Refund requests postmarked (or email date) PRIOR to tryout date will receive a 100% refund. Refund requests postmarked on the tryout date until March 24, 2012 will receive a 50% refund. There will be NO refunds for requests made after March 24, 2012.

 Ask questions to the YCLL Treasurer at treasurer@ycll.net.

To the entire YCLL community, we received this message from Little League International.

 SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (Dec. 30, 2010) - Little League International has placed a moratorium on the use of full composite bats in ALL Divisions of Little League baseball, effective immediately.

  Only wood bats or aluminum bats with a BPF of 1.15 printed on the bat will be allowed from now on.  Bats made with a composite handle (skinny part) and an aluminum barrel (fat part) are still allowed.  The bat diameters for each division have not changed.

The moratorium on composite bats, which now applies to all baseball divisions of Little League, does not apply to any softball divisions of Little League.

Find out the full story by clicking ==>> HERE This link has been frequently not working due to updates at the Little League International main site

An EVENT is either a practice or a game.

The season begins with mostly practices, then as the season progresses the schedule switches to be mostly all games.

One event is scheduled on a weekday, Monday thru Friday between 5:30pm and 8:30pm depending on age.  IT'S NOT THE SAME DAY OF THE WEEK EVERY WEEK.

One event is scheduled on Saturday between 9:00am and 5:00pm.

We try to avoid Friday's if possible but no guarantees.

We do not schedule any events on Sunday unless a team makes a special request.

11/12 yo baseball begins practice on Monday Feb 20th.

 Most other teams will begin one week later.

Opening day games for YCLL will be on March 24th.

The JR/SR Baseball and Softball teams do not begin practicing until March 24th.

First,  the official little league definition:
The MANAGER is a person appointed by the league president to be responsible for the team's actions on the field , and to represent the team in communications with the umpire and the opposing team.
(a) The manager shall always be responsible for the team's conduct, observance of the official rules and deference to the umpires.
(b) If a manager leaves the field, that manager shall designate a coach as a substitute and such substitute shall have the duties, rights and responsibilities of the manager.

Now that we got the book answer out of the way. Here's the rest of the story.
The MANAGER:
...is the person in charge of the team.
...organizes and sets the practice agenda.
...is the focal point for all communication with the team and parents.
...will "draft" the players on their team (N/A for Tee Ball)
...is responsible for the batting order and the fielding positions.
...selects their team coaches and gives the coaching assignments.
...selects their Team Mom/Team Dad.
...attends the YCLL managers meetings.
...works with and for the divisions commissioner, to keep the league running smoothly.
... becomes a manager after being nomintated by the president and approved by the board of directors.
 ...is a volunteer just like everyone else in YCLL.

A COACH is a volunteer, normally a parent, who helps the manager teach the players the rules and skills to play baseball.  Every Little League team is allowed to have TWO "official" coaches rostered on the team.  That does not prevent additional parents from volunteering their time to assist the manager and coaches when needed. A volunteer becomes a Coach after being nomintated by the teams' Manager and approval by the board of directors

Click ==>>  HERE to read the YCLL manager selection policy.

MYTH: The runner must always slide when the play is close.

REALITY: This is probably the single most misunderstood and misapplied rule in Little League. There are any number of variations of the "must slide" myth. "The runner must always slide at home." "The runner must slide if the defense is making a play on him." "The runner must slide once he's been put out during a double play attempt."

None of them are true.

There is never any situation in which a runner is required to slide. The relevant rule is:

7.08(a)(3) -- Any runner is out when ... the runner does not slide or attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make the tag;

 First, notice that the runner has two options -- he or she may slide, or he or she may attempt to get around the fielder. The choice is up to the runner. Second, notice that the rule says that, if the runner does not elect to slide, that he or she must attempt to get around the fielder. It does not say that the runner must not contact the fielder. Consider a common play:

The catcher is standing just off the line as the runner approaches. The catcher fields the ball, and starts to step across the line to tag the runner. The runner swerves to his right, trying to avoid the catcher, but the catcher continues his motion toward the runner, and the two collide.

The fact that contact occurred does not mean that the runner is automatically out. In this situation, by swerving, the runner satisfied the rule -- he or she attempted to get around the fielder. Of course, if the runner goes more than three feet to either side attempting to avoid a tag, then he or she can be called out under Rule 7.08(a)(1), but that is another matter entirely.

Finally, read the last half of the rule again. For this paragraph to even apply, the fielder must have the ball and be waiting to make the tag. Thus, for example, if the runner arrives just as the ball is hitting the catcher's glove, this rule probably doesn't apply either. Only once the catcher is in position to make the tag does the runner acquire the obligation to slide or attempt to avoid. In fact, if contact occurs before the fielder has the ball, then the fielder is probably guilty of obstruction.

Little League has made this abundantly clear in Make The Right Call, a Little League publication with commentary on how the rules should be applied. In there, it says:

There is no "must slide rule." The rule is, "slide or attempt to get around." The key in this situation is "fielder has the ball and is waiting to make a tag." If the fielder (any fielder, not just the catcher) does not have the ball, and there is a collision, you CANNOT call the runner out. However, if the umpire determines that the runner deliberately attempted to injure the fielder, the umpire could eject the runner for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The first part bears emphasizing. Repeat after me:

There is no "must slide" rule.
There is no "must slide" rule.
There is no "must slide" rule.

MYTH - the player registration fee pays only for the uniform.

In 2010, YCLL had total operating expenses over $115,000.  That's over $115 per player !

YCLL areas of expense include Equipment, Uniforms, Utilities, Little League International Charter and Insurance Fees, Field Maintainence, and Portable Toilets just to name a few.

MYTH: A runner who runs more the three feet away from a direct line between bases is out of the baseline and should be called out.

REALITY: Rachel hits a screamer into the gap. It's clearly going to be extra bases, maybe even a triple. Does Rachel run directly down the first base line, make a perfect right-angle turn at first and then run towards second? Of course not. Part way down toward first, she veers out into foul territory and "rounds" first. Both between home and first, and between first and second, she is almost certainly more than three feet away from a direct line between the bases.

The key to understanding "out of the baseline" is twofold:

1. Under normal circumstances, the runner makes his or her own baseline.

2. The rule about staying within three feet of the baseline only applies when a fielder is trying to make a tag.

Until a play is being made on a runner, he or she can take any path to, or between, bases that he or she wants.  If the batter wants to go from first to second via center field, that's just fine.  Maybe not wise, but definitely legal.  When this changes, however, is when a fielder gets the ball in a position to potentially make a tag on the runner. Then, and only then, does the "direct line to the base" come into play.  Even so, the "line" is a direct line between where the runner currently is and the base, not the direct line between the bases.

Not only does a runner have the right to run outside a direct line between the bases, at times the runner is obligated to. If a fielder is attempting to catch a batted ball, and is standing in the baseline, the runner is required to avoid him or her. Here, too, the runner is not out for veering off his path - he or she is doing exactly the correct thing.

Please follow these guidelines prior to purchasing your equipment! Beginning with the 2009 Little League Baseball season, baseball bats with a diameter of 2 3/4 inches are no longer permitted for use in the Junior League Division of Baseball.

Baseball bats with a 2 5/8 inch diameter are now the standard for all teenage baseball divisions (Junior, Senior and Big League).

The "minus-3" requirement - overall weight (in ounces) of a bat can be no more than three ounces below the overall length (in inches) of the bat - remains in effect in Senior and Big League Baseball divisions, but is NOT a requirement in Junior Baseball.

Also, in effect for the 2009 season is the requirement that all non-wood bats used in Little League Baseball Divisions and below shall be printed with a BPF (bat performance factor) of 1.15 or less. If you have an old bat without a BPF, it can non longer be used.

 York County Sports Complex Field Condition Hot Line

890-3868

This line is a recording only and applies only to the new Sports Complex.   Cancellations and field conditions at all other YCLL fields remain the responsibility of the home team manager.

The YCLL General Membership meeting was held on Tuesday Sept 13th. Congratulations to the following individuals who volunteered to serve as board members for the 2012 seasons and were elected by the general membership:

New YCLL President - Mike Harvey 

Eric Henegar
Patrick Flemming
Tom Himes
Michael Holland
Eddie Jackson
John Kelly
Nick Labella
Lori Luongo
Dave O'Brien
John Penland
Jay Roberts
Mike Simmons
Debbie Walden
Wally Walton