BYSA Frequently Asked Questions
We’re new, how does this work?
BYSA currently serves the community by providing a baseball league for ages 4-16. Registration usually opens 1/1 for the spring and 8/1 for the fall season.
In the spring, we have an evaluation in early February where coaches will evaluate the players and we will draft teams. The evaluation is just to keep teams fair and competitive, all who are evaluated will be drafted to or placed on a team.
In the fall, we do not have evaluations, players are distributed between teams.
What ages does BYSA serve?
BYSA allows children as young as 4 and as old as 16. Ages are determined by how old the child is on April 30 of the spring season. Eg. if the date is currently January 7th and you have a 3 year old with his birthday being March 5, then he is eligible because on April 30, he would be 4 years old.
What is the difference between 4/5 Instructional and 5/6 League?
Our 4/5 year old league is played with a softer baseball. The kids will hit off of a tee and run to 1B. When the next player hits, they will run to 2B. There are no strikeouts, there are no outs at all. It is an instructional league and not competitive.
The 5/6 league is competitive. A real baseball is used. Kids will 3 pitches from a coach and then 3 swings off a tee. Kids can strike out or even foul out. Once they hit, the defense will attempt to get them out. Teams can’t go bat until they get 3 outs or the other team gets the run limit for the inning.
We recommend 4 year olds and first year 5 year olds to play in the 4/5 league. We allow 5’s to stay in 4/5 league if parents decide.
When are signups?
Registration begins 1/1 for the spring and 8/1 for fall.
When are evaluations?
Evaluations are typically the first or second weekend in February. See the BYSA Facebook page and the website (bentonbaseball.com) for dates when they are released.
When does the season start?
Practices will start the week after evaluations for some teams. Some years we are able to play a preseason tournament the week before spring break.
Regular season games will start the Monday after spring break.
There are no games during spring break.
When does the season end?
We can’t say for sure because we will attempt to make up all games that rain out in the spring. It rains quite often in the spring. Our games are scheduled to end about mid-May and we try to fit the makeups in before Memorial Day. If you would like a basic answer, our season will go from spring break until school lets out for the summer.
Can I make sure my kid is on a team with his friends or his neighbor?
For the spring, we only allow this in the 4/5 Instructional League. We do not allow this in any other age group. We get this question every year and the reason we can’t is because it challenges the integrity of the league. If we allowed parents to choose the teams, the 10 best players in the league would join together and make the league no fun for anyone.
The same goes with neighbors who claim the only way they can make it to games is if their neighbor helps with rides. The scenario changes but the goal is the same, to stack the team with good players. We do not allow this.
For the fall season we allow players to play with their friends because we have the ability to manipulate the other players on the teams in order to make them as even as we can.
In either league, we can’t guarantee that all teams will be equal but we do try to make sure all teams have an equal opportunity to be successful.
What happens when it rains?
Teams should plan on playing the games until a message is sent to say that games are cancelled. A notification will be sent by 4:00 PM if at all possible. If no notification has been sent then you should plan on playing that night.
Rainouts will be made up at a later date as time allows.
When are practices?
At our draft, teams will select 1 time slot per week in order to practice. Teams will have that time slot each week until games begin. Coaches are allowed to practice all they want, however, we only have access to the fields during that time slot before the season. If practices are cancelled due to rain we generally will not be able to reschedule them.
Will my son get a trophy at the end of the year?
We give trophies to everyone for our 4/5 league and our 5/6 league. We give trophies to the champions of the 7/8 , 9/10, and 11/12 league. We do not give trophies to the 13-16 league, some of them have beards.