Please see the official age charts for Little League Baseball and Softball.

***2024 Select Fall Ball Program Tryouts and Details***

Many of you have seen the WCLL emails the past few weeks outlining BashBall as the endorsed fall ball activity for this season.  We are glad to know many WCLL players have signed up as it should be a lot of fun for participants as they develop baseball skills through a whole new, engaging game format and we continue to support enrollment in BashBall. 

Concurrent with that fall ball offering, a few of the Coaches and Board Members wanted to also support a Fall 2024 Select Baseball/Softball program for those who were interested and in the league age 8-12 range (current, updated age chart above).  A chance for stronger players across our league to play and practice together before our regular spring season begins.  

Details for Fall Select Softball will come out shortly.  For now, the dates/times of tryouts and programming below are for baseball only.

Also note we will still need some coaching support to make this work (more on that below), so here are the pertinent details:

Cost:  $100 per person.  Payment made only after confirmation your player(s) earns a roster invitation. For players engaged with Bulldawgs fall ball, the cost is $25/player.

Tryouts:

When:  Sunday, September 8th, 2pm-6pm

Where:  Ygnacio Valley Elementary at 2217 Chalomar Rd, Concord, CA 94518

Email [email protected] for a tryout time slot if interested with the following information:

  -Player Name and DOB
-Spring 2024 Team/Division
-Parent Name/Contact Phone/Email

Program Length and Scheduling:  After tryouts, first practice sessions would be Sunday, September 15th. We are targeting a timeslot that would not conflict with players who may also play BashBall or soccer, if that’s of concern.  This would recur for seven Sundays and end on Sunday, October 27th. Ultimately, coaches in each division will be responsible for setting their age group’s schedule if not on a Sunday, though.   

Program Location:  This is slightly TBD depending on number of teams we form, coaches and availability, and soccer scheduling.  Ygnacio Valley Elementary is the likely venue as it is solely baseball fields (the school is not used for soccer).

Eligibility:  Players born between September 1, 2012 to August 31, 2017 could be eligible.  You do not need to have played spring ball in WCLL to participate.  Players outside of regular league boundaries enforced for spring season CAN join for this.   

Program Format:  In the recurring two-hour Sunday sessions, our volunteer coaches could have 45 minutes of drill-based practices followed by 1 hr 15 mins of scrimmage time for some balance.  Each team’s coaches will determine a time frame for Sundays and an activity plan. The goal is to help kids improve and to have fun.

These are the basic framework details for now.

If interested, email [email protected] for a tryout slot and feel free to reach out with any questions.

The rest of the information below is meant to shed light on the context/origin of this Select program and lay out some clear expectation setting.  We encourage all of you to read on, even if you have participated in the Select program before.  Otherwise, we hope to see some of you at the September 8th tryouts!

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Why/How this Select Program Materialized:  

Many of us are aware WCLL has sought to become more competitive at all levels to retain talent, particularly at higher division levels.  Peanuts is now strictly on a tee, the Farm division was brought back to be the "developmental division" (what we formerly knew as our coach pitch Single-A Division in previous years), and the Single-A Division started using a pitching machine and just this past year incorporated a variation of a “live ball rule” in conjunction with use of a “pitcher’s circle.”

But skill level in each division is never a perfect science and we’re often coaching a range of talent on a given team no matter the division.  Much of our attention focuses on the newer, more developmental players with limited resources to further develop top players on a given team.

Two summers ago, after the spring season ended, we piloted a Select program with some 8U players for more top-talent scrimmaging, tailored coaching, and some relationship building.  The experience was great:  Single-A players transitioning to Double-A got critical pitching instruction and experience along with a true feel for the Catcher’s role.  Coaches came together and these players truly got better heading into summer and this past season.  And the kids had loads of fun!

We felt like we had a blueprint to continue this and start earlier in spring 2024 and now we simply want to keep momentum going across fall and on into spring 2025.  

Some Disclaimers:

 Not Everyone Makes The Team:  This is a very difficult part of even doing this.  This email is reaching hundreds of families.  The coaches involved just don’t have the bandwidth to take on more players, though we often wish we could.  And telling a player or parent (or Coach!) their kid did not make the cut can be painful.  We do want to do everything possible to get out in front of that and minimize a feeling of rejection.  To that effect.

-Anyone who did not make the tryouts cut can receive specific, transparent feedback from coaches doing evals upon request.

  -We will keep the names of tryout attendees and look to offer opportunities to attend coaching sessions/clinics we hope to add in across this program where it’s sensible, and possibly even scrimmage opportunities if we can facilitate.

-In short, we don’t want this program and the necessary process of evaluation and selection to discourage players and frustrate parents (or coaches).  We really need your help with clarity and perspective there for your player.  Electing to even offer this program had nothing but good intentions for strong players in our league.  We sincerely believe players who do not make a cut will be well served by coaching/development through BashBall and our regular spring season.  Select fall ball intends to push high-skill players further and some may not quite yet be ready for that in his/her given age division at this time, but next season can always be a different story!

Your Flexibility is Critical:  The Select program is still new to WCLL and many of the age divisions as it was only initially piloted with league age 8 year olds a couple of times.  We do not know how many families will be interested in tryouts, nor if a last-minute scheduling conflict with fields/coaches potentially warrants a date/time change with practices.  We might be light on participants of a given age and look to consolidate an age group or two.  There are many variables we are still somewhat unsure about.  We are moving forward with an adaptive mindset and we will need your support there.  We will aim to be as communicative as possible about any changes to what’s proposed above.  Patience and flexibility will be key.

We Will Need Coaching Support:  If you are willing and able to help, we will be able to train and help you run larger practices with higher-level skill development, but we do need a few willing volunteers to augment the core group behind the push to have this Select fall offering.  Please let us know of that interest in the email reply around signing up for a tryout.  

FAQs:

Just practices and scrimmages?  

We actually would like to explore adding a different element to the 7 sessions, whether that’s potentially some external coaching or external scrimmaging, but nothing set as of yet.

We played Select last spring, do we still need to tryout?

Yes!  We must start from scratch each season.  We will go through the same process next spring as well (so fall 2024 selection will not carry over to spring 2025).

We might miss some days, is that ok?

Missing 1-2 Sundays could be alright, but, beyond that, you may want to consider passing up this opportunity.  

When do we find out if our player(s) made the tryout cut or not for this program?  

We will communicate to families no later than Tuesday, September 10th, if they have been invited to join Select Fall Ball or not.  

Hopefully this answers many questions and we look forward to hearing back from some of you interested in this program very soon!

Thanks,

WCLL Board of Directors