After what most would consider a successful season for summer sports at the McMinnville Civic Center, Kevin Roberts sat down and talked about the state of local recreational league ball.
Roberts said, “I think it was a good year and we have set a solid foundation to build on for the youth league here in McMinnville.”
In his first year, Roberts did not have much to go by other than just what he had been told. Tuesday night at the Civic Center Roberts met with coaches for a recap of this season, something that had not been done in past seasons. The meeting was designed to take the positives and negatives from this season to hopefully improve the play here in town.
It also helps to keep coaches informed and on the same page. Roberts told the Southern Standard out of the 35 coaches, 25 showed up to discuss this season and start on topics for next year. Overall, most coaches in attendance agreed with Roberts that it was a good season.
“This season was almost more of an observing role for me,” he added.
Even though Roberts felt this was a good year, he quickly stated there is always room for improvement and now is that time. He does not want to wait until next season to get started. Roberts is already planning ahead to next year to improve the league.
Keeping up with umpires, scorekeepers and scheduling while teaching new people to keep score proved to be a daunting task. Many of the coaches in attendance agreed the umpiring was much better than previous years. It is a much bigger project than people think but Roberts is grateful for all the help along the way.
“Terry Beard did a tremendous job this season; he was always somewhere putting out fires for me,“ said Roberts.
To clear up any rumors starting to swirl, Roberts explained plans for next season. He would prefer parents to be excited for the program instead of worrying about changes. The summer league is not replacing anything or taking anything away. Roberts is only going to offer more options for older kids who might not be part of a school or travel team.
The leagues will not follow the Cal Ripken or Babe Ruth Associations. McMinnville  will join the the Baseball Professional Association and the girls will play under the National Softball Association. This means there will be no time constraints to finish the season by a certain date. Next year’s season will probably last until mid-July.
Every team will make the post season and tournaments will be a single-elimination format with awards for first- and second-place finishes. Awards will also be handed out next season for the regular season winner as well.
All-star coaches will be chosen by their peers using the same system used this season; coaches will not be able to vote for themselves.
All-star players will have to try out in front of the coaches, along with Roberts and Beard. The players will be evaluated and chosen based on fundamentals as well as skills on the field.
Another change coming for next year is Roberts would like all coaches to become NYSA certified. By doing so it will help validate the program in McMinnville. Roberts encourages all coaches to take part in this program.
The 4-year old T-ball will still be available. The 5-6 T-ball league will change to a age 5 only league. After the T-ball leagues,  6-8-year-old coach pitch for boys and girls will be offered. There will be no machine-pitch league for boys next season.
Roberts wants to pick up the tempo in the boys game. The 7-8 girls are playing five and six innings while the boys are playing three- and four-inning games. Robert claims it needs to be a faster pace with more excitement and the machine takes too much time to calibrate and reset after every pitch. This change will make the game more spectator friendly.
Next up is the 9-11 minor leagues and the 12-14 major leagues for girls and boys. This change means boys will no longer be ineligible after age 12 and recapture the age group when there wasn’t a program.
It should have a multiple benefit. The changes allow more youth to become involved in the program and a wider age group that will help the numbers, all in which will increase the level of play.
The 9-11 girls fast pitch will be a combination of windmill and modified pitch. Modified is not a complete windmill - the pitcher pulls the ball straight back and throws. This will help those who are not ready to windmill yet. If a pitcher starts the game using a windmill pitch, she must continue a windmill pitch. The same goes for starting the game using a modified pitch.
This change is being made to help more girls swing the bat and just not to try and favor pitchers. The minor league will be the only league offering the modified option. The major league will be fast pitch.
Slow pitch will be making its way into town next year. “The program needs to be offered and if it does not make, at least it was offered,” said Roberts.
The slow pitch will be premier leagues for 16-U, 18-U and 20-U girls and 18-U boys.  An 18-U co-ed league will also be offered. For local travel teams or teams out of town who want to play on nice fields, they are welcome to come and play. Out-of-town teams will not be entered into a draft.
“We are going to offer this and if it does not make a league, then it will not be played. We have to at least offer this program,” said Roberts.
He added, “We are not eliminating anything from this season, just offering more options. The goal is to have all seven fields being used.
"We want to create leagues that are not just based on winning. Our league needs to be based on fundamentally growing future players for our middle school and high school while having fun.”