Overview

At Southern Little League, the summer season is the highlight of our year. It all starts in January with registration, with a deadline in early March. Player tryout/evaluation day is in late March. Team assignments are announced before spring break, and opening day is a week or two after spring break. The regular season wraps up by the end of June, with post-season play stretching into July and August depending on how our teams fare.

We announce EVERYTHING on our website: southernLL.org

IMPORTANT: Please take the time to read and understand everything below.

Divisions and Age Eligibility

We offer baseball and softball. Baseball is mostly boys, but we certainly do not disallow girls from playing baseball. Softball is girls only. When you register, the system will guide you to the division that fits your child's date of birth, so please register for that division and understand that we can move players to a different division after registration as noted in the exceptions below. In softball, depending on enrollment numbers, we sometimes move players up or down a division to even out team sizes. Please register for the division that fits your child's age, understanding that we can sort things out later. We do not need to see your child's birth certificate. Please be sure to read and understand all the details in the division below that fits your child's age.

We do our best to accommodate carpool/buddy requests at the Coach-Pitch level. However, because we do a draft at Minors and above to keep the teams evenly matched, we CANNOT GUARANTEE that your child will be placed on the same team as your carpool request. We will place siblings who are signed up at the same level on the same team unless you request separate teams.

• Coach-Pitch Baseball (age 6-8, born Sep-2015 to Aug-2018) Mildly competitive with no tournaments. Usually two games per week from mid-April to mid-June. Usually no more than one informal practice per week. Emphasis on having fun and learning the basics. Please note: Most 8-year-olds play Coach-Pitch. Although it is unusual, we do allow the occasional 8-year-old to try out for Minors, with no guarantee that they will be drafted to a Minors team. If your child fits that age range and wants to try out for Minors, please register for Coach-Pitch regardless. You'll see a place where you can indicate that they intend to try out for Minors. Be sure to attend the appropriate session on tryout/evaluation day.
  
  
• Minors Baseball (age 9-10, born Sep-2013 to Aug-2015) Mildly competitive with tournaments. Please note: Most 10-year-olds (born Sep-2011 to Aug-2012) play a second year of Minors. But we do allow 10-year-olds to try out for Majors, with no guarantee that they will be drafted to a Majors team. If your child fits that age range and wants to try out for Majors, please register for Minors regardless. You'll see a place where you can indicate that they intend to try out for Majors. Be sure to attend the appropriate session on tryout/evaluation day.
  
  
• Majors Baseball (age 11-12, born Sep-2011 to Aug-2013) Competitive with tournaments. Please note: 11-year-olds (born Sep-2010 to Aug-2011) move up from Minors to Majors. Be sure to attend the appropriate session on tryout/evaluation day. All 11-year-olds will be placed on a Majors team.
  
  
• Juniors Baseball (age 13-14, born Sep-2009 to Aug-2011) Competitive with tournaments. We understand that a lot of kids at this level play on a school team, so the Juniors season starts a little later. But the registration deadline is the same as the younger levels. If this is your child's first year in Juniors, be sure to attend the appropriate session on tryout/evaluation day.
  
  
• Seniors Baseball (age 15-16, born Sep-2007 to Aug-2009) Mostly experienced high school players, with tournaments. The registration deadline for seniors is not until May, and the season is delayed until the high school season is over. There is no tryout for Seniors, so you do not need to attend tryout/evaluation day at all.
  
  
• Coach-Pitch Softball (age 6-8, born Jan-2015 to Dec-2017) Mildly competitive with no tournaments
• Minors Softball (age 9-10, born Jan-2013 to Dec-2014) Mildly competitive with tournaments
• Majors Softball (age 11-12, born Jan-2011 to Dec-2012) Competitive with tournaments.
• Juniors Softball (age 13-14, born Jan-2009 to Dec-2010) Competitive with tournaments
• Seniors Softball (age 15-16, born Jan-2007 to Dec-2008) We will not be offering seniors softball this summer

Geographical Eligibility

To be eligible to play at Southern Little League, your child must either reside or attend school within our official league boundary. When you register, you'll be asked to select your child's school from a list of schools within our league's boundary. If your child's school is not on that list, don't worry. There's a place for you to tell us what school they do attend. Also, as part of the registration, you can upload proof of residency documents. As the notes indicate, proof of residency is OPTIONAL. If you opt not to provide proof of residency, please understand that your child must be able to prove residency to participate in post-season tournaments. This is strictly enforced for post-season play.

Cost

The cost for baseball is $190, with a $25 late fee if you register after the March 2nd deadline. (May 4 for Seniors Baseball) The cost for softball is $110. You can pay by Visa, MasterCard, or by mailing us a check. No player will be denied based on inability to pay. Please come to one of the in-person sign-up sessions (see below) for details on financial assistance.

Important Dates

• Online Registration/Sign-up Registration: now thru the Saturday, March 2nd deadline (May 4 for Seniors Baseball
  
  
• In-person sign-up sessions: to be determined
  
  
• Player evaluation/tryout day: Saturday March 23rd at East Grand Rapids High School (click here for details)
  
  
• Practices begin: After Spring Break and these depend on the coach
  
  
• Spring Break: no practices or games
  
  
• Coach and Team Parent meeting: Details to be announced (Only for coaches and dedicated team parent)
  
  
• Games begin: Friday, April 19 (Softball, Juniors and Seniors Baseball begin later)
  
  
• Seniors softball and baseball signup deadline: May 4
  
  
• Family Day : Saturday June 8

What to Expect After Registering

Once you've registered, you'll receive an email confirmation of your registration. Follow the instructions in that email to print, complete, and submit your medical release form. You'll need to submit that before you can play.

Your child MIGHT need to attend the tryout/evaluation day on Saturday, March 23rd. Please click here to read all the details and to find out if your child needs to attend.

Next, on or before March 31st, you'll get an email letting you know that your child has been assigned to a team. Please be patient. Seniors baseball and all levels of softball team assignments will happen at a later date. We'll announce on the website once we know that date. 

Soon after that, coaches will be reaching out to players via email to announce practices. Practice schedules are entirely up to coaches and are not scheduled and posted by the league. You can expect no practices over Spring Break.

Finally, once our game schedules are finalized, you'll be able to see exactly where and when your child's games are scheduled.

We announce all of this on our website and via email. Once you're registered, you're automatically on our email list. There's nothing else to sign up for in terms of notification.

During the Season

Once the season is underway, you'll continue to get emails from your coach, and we'll keep the schedules and standings up to date on the website.

When weather forces us to cancel games, we'll announce that across the top of our website, and we'll also send an email to members of teams whose games have been postponed. So if you're wondering about weather, keep watching the website and keep checking your email. That's the first and best way to be informed. We no longer announce weather updates via text message.

All other important announcements are posted on the Latest News section on the front page of our website. We also send emails for most announcements to everyone who is registered.

Questions?

Please send your questions to [email protected]. We'll forward your question to the right person.