After 25 memorable seasons with Little League, the Berlin Athletic Association Board of Trustees is excited to announce that we will be transitioning to Cal Ripken Baseball in 2013.
The transition will occur at our Tee Ball, Boys Rookies, Boys Minors and Boys Majors playing levels. At the Tee Ball and Boys Rookies levels there will be no real change from last season, but some rules enhancements will be made at Boys Rookies with regard to player pitching and Cal Ripken Baseball offers District tournament play starting at the 8u level. Some rule enhancements will also be made at the Boys Minors and Boys Majors levels to help introduce the finer points of the game earlier in the developmental process with continue play of 50-70 baseball at the Boys Majors level.
The most noticeable change will be seen in the development of interleague play with Cal Ripken Baseball leagues in Lindenwold and Gibbsboro / Voorhees (GVAA). At this time, the Board has decided that moving our program to Cal Ripken Baseball is in the best interest of our players as we can develop a closer playing relationship with teams in the Gibbsboro and Voorhees who are also sending districts to Eastern High School. The decision to move to Cal Ripken Baseball follows the transition of our 13yo+ players to Babe Ruth Baseball 5 years ago which served as the introduction of inter-league play with GVAA at the 13-15yo level. Cal Ripken Baseball is the youth division of Babe Ruth Baseball and established 11-12yo play at the 50-70 field size. We have been playing our Boys Majors level at 50-70 for 3 years in an effort to provide our players stronger development as they transition from the small field to the big field.
While Little League is making adaptations in the 50-70 direction, we feel enhancing our in-house regular season schedule with games against well established Cal Ripken programs in Lindenwold and GVAA will allow for more well-rounded baseball development of our younger players. Our goal is to keep our players on par with players that they will eventually compete against for roster spots and / or play with at Eastern HS and in the Gibbsboro American Legion program. The 2013 Eastern varsity baseball roster will have at least 9 and perhaps as many as 12 Berlin Boro players…that is an unprecedented number considering our size. The success of our players at the Eastern HS level is attributable in part to early introduction of 50-70 through travel ball and the transition we made to Babe Ruth and in-house play with GVAA. We feel that transitioning our younger levels over to Cal Ripken at this time will help maintain and build upon the success we have seen as our players develop into HS.
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