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The county’s Little League baseball season is off to a flying start, with the rains of early May having given way to beautiful weather for the national pasttime.
The league is larger than ever this season, according to Butch Zindel, one of the volunteer coaches. The league features a consolidated arrangement between the Amissville and Rappahannock Little League teams, which all play a round-robin schedule.
In Amissville, interest is up over any previous year, with more than 100 children participating. The Rappahannock League has also seen more participation than in years past, although not on the scale of its neighbor to the east.
There are teams in four age divisions, from the Babe Ruth League, for teenagers, the Bambino League for kids 10-13 years of age, and the Minor League for young ballplayers 8-10 years old. And for the real serious youngsters who want to start baseball early, there’s the T-Ball League for those just leamimr the fundamentals at ah early age.
“The T-Ball teams,” said Cheryl Diggs, “are all doing well. Amissville’s Tigers and Bear?"1tT}d Rappahannock’s Lions and Family Focus are all playing hard and learning the game. Keep up the good work!”
T-Ball is a modification of traditional Little League for youngsters up to eight years of age who are just learning the game. Instead of batters facing a pitcher their own age, the pitching duties are assumed by the team’s coach.
This change gives the youngsters a better chance at hitting the ball, rather than facing an equally young and often uncontrolled pitcher. And, the teams don’t keep score, stressing instead that the players learn the fundamentals and have fun, rather than worrying about who won and who lost.
The Babe Ruth League is new this y'ear, according to Mrs. Diggs. Several times in past years there have been attempts to start a league for the older youngsters who have outgrown the Bambino League, but it’s never been successful before. This year, not only has there been interest, there were enough kids signed up to make three teams for the league. “It looks like it’s going to work out well this year.”
Leading the Babe Ruth League so far are the Rappahannock Panthers (related to the RCHS team in name only) with a record of 2-1. Close behind, however, the Amissville Blue Jays stand in second place, undefeated at 2-0. The Amissville Mets trail in third place with an 0-3 record.
The Bambino League is also larger than ever before this season. In past years the league has only fielded three teams between the
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