Little League strong in Snohomish County

Published 11:31 pm Wednesday, February 10, 2010

In some areas of the United States, the enrollment numbers for Little League baseball and softball have declined in recent years, leading officials of the national youth sports organization to consider ways to keep more kids involved.

But here in Snohomish County, where there are 16 leagues, scores of teams and thousands of boys and girls participating from tee-ball up to high school, Little League seems to be going strong. With registration already well under way, most leagues in the county — officially, Washington’s Little League District 1 — have equal and maybe even greater numbers than a year ago.

“It appears we’re still growing,” said Ed Lundberg, president of Mill Creek Little League. “We’ve grown over the last three years with our numbers.”

Mill Creek, he went on, is “a baseball community. We run a good, solid program and families want to be a part of it.”

Likewise, Marysville Little League had a record number of first-day registrations this year, and that bodes well for the coming season, according to league president Judd Luton.

In recent years, Luton said, “we’ve had very small ebbs and flows. Last year we were down a little bit, but I’d say it was negligible.”

Overall, he said, “baseball in Marysville is pretty healthy.”

In other parts of the country, though, the picture is not so rosy. Although Little League is growing overseas, the overall worldwide participation has dropped from a high of 2.6 million in 1997 to 2.2 million in 2008, a decrease of 16 percent. Much of that decline, officials say, has been in the United States.

The dropoff seems to occur primarily in the early teenage years. Youngsters have the option of playing in older divisions of Little League, but many are opting to leave for select teams or even other sports such as soccer and lacrosse.

In response, Little League is beginning a pilot program in parts of the country — though not in Snohomish County — that will introduce an intermediate-sized playing field.

For youngsters up to age 12, Little League baseball games are played on a field with a pitching distance of 46 feet and 60 feet between bases. Beginning at age 13, the field dimensions are the same as professional baseball — a pitching distance of 60 feet, 6 inches, and 90 feet between bases.

Little League’s pilot program, which is designed for players 12-13, will have a 50-foot pitching distance and 70 feet between bases. The “50-70” league also will allow runners to lead off and slide headfirst, which are currently prohibited for youngsters 12 and under.

Yet here in Snohomish County, the “50-70” plan has yet to gain much support.

“I don’t think it’ll work up here,” said R.J. Monfiletto, District 1’s assistant administrator. “Nobody really has the fields for that. … A lot of these Little Leagues are already set up with their field sizes for 12 year olds, and they would have to look for land (for more fields).”

Games could be held on larger fields, such as a high school field, but the leagues would have to buy portable pitching mounds, which are expensive, and then transport them to and from games, he added.

Still, Luton said that “it’s beneficial for Little League to evaluate what they’re doing. To kind of be introspective and say, ‘Are we doing what’s best for ourselves and the kids?’ It’s a huge jump from 12-year-old baseball of 46 (feet) and 60 to a (full-sized) diamond. … Little League is trying to figure out how to find a happy medium for the 13- and 14-year-old players.”

If kids leave Little League, Luton said, it is usually because they intend to play on a select team, where the cost is usually higher and the quality of competition is perceived to be better — though some Little League folks argue that latter point.

And although some kids leave to play other sports, there is really “no challenge from swimming, no challenge from soccer, no challenge from basketball, and no challenge from lacrosse per se,” Luton said. “But I do hear of kids leaving to play select baseball. Select baseball is presenting a challenge to Little League.”

In response, several Little Leagues in Snohomish County will begin using separate divisions for players in the same age groups, which is something California Little Leagues have been doing for about 10 years. A gold division will be for players who want to compete at the highest level, while a bronze division will be for players who want a more recreational experience.

“The response we’ve gotten throughout our district has been overwhelming,” Monfiletto said. “People are saying that some of the kids are coming back from select to Little League.”

This season, he said, 12 of the district’s 16 leagues are committed to using gold and bronze divisions. The other four leagues are waiting to see what their registration numbers are before making a decision, he said.