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HCB announces age group, league changes for 2015 season

Huntington County Baseball Inc. has announced age group and league changes for the upcoming 2015 season.

The most significant changes involve new age groups for players aged 9 through 14 years old.  Instead of two-year age groups at 9/10 and 11/12 as in previous seasons, HCB will now sponsor leagues for ages 9 through 11 and 12 through 14-year-old players.

“This change was made to increase the competition in all the leagues and create more teams,” said HCB President Jeff Phillips. “This also aligns the baseball leagues with our softball divisions, which has been successful. Three-year age groups allow the leagues to field more teams, creating more competitiveness within each league throughout the regular season.”

Other age group changes made include allowing 6-year-olds to play in HCB’s 7/8-year-old coach’s pitch league as long as they have played two years in the HCB T-Ball league.

“Our T-ball numbers have been so high in recent years, so this moves allows us to move up players ready for the next level without hurting our already high-participation T-ball league,” said Phillips.

Phillips added that if a parent wants their child to remain in T-ball for a third year that is allowable.

Another minor change in the oldest HCB leagues includes allowing high school seniors in both softball and baseball to enroll even if they have turned 19 before the May 1 age group cutoff date. The only stipulation is that they be enrolled in high school through the end of the school year.  Phillips said this change was made due to requests from players who wanted to continue to play with their classmates even though they had passed the age group deadline.

The age group cutoff for softball has also been changed to May 1 from the previous Jan. 1 cutoff date.  This change also was made to align it with the baseball deadline as well as allowing kids to remain connected with their peers from school.

“Basically, we took a look at a variety of issues that are in the best interests of our participants and made changes in those areas that made the most sense,” said Phillips. “We are excited about entering our 10th full season at Homier Park, which has been a great place for all of our constituency this past decade.”

HCB, which is entering its 65th season, will begin registration for the 2015 season in January. Information can be found on the league’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/hcb sports, on their website, www.hcbsports.com, or via Twitter @hcbsports.