TORRINGTON – The Torrington Legion and Babe Ruth baseball teams are gearing up for the season, with sign-ups being held Sunday, while Torrington Little League has its sign-ups Monday.
Torrington did not have a Legion team last summer, due to lack of players. Kathy Childs, the organization’s treasurer, said there were only five players signed up for the Legion team, which is for baseball players age 15-18. Only two players from last year’s Babe Ruth team have entered the age range for the Legion team, so there may not be a Legion team again this year.
“Even 5-6 years ago, kids still wanted to play baseball,” Childs said. “Fifteen years ago we had 4-5 Legion teams.”
Despite not having the numbers for a Legion team last summer, Torrington fielded a successful Babe Ruth team, made up of 13-15 year olds. The Tigers went 19-12 on the season and made some noise during the postseason.
In the State Babe Ruth Tournament, Torrington went 3-2 and finished as the state runner-up. In the state tournament, the Tigers fell to Riverton in pool play and the championship game, but bested Sheridan, Gillette and Buffalo.
Torrington played against both Babe Ruth and Junior Legion teams last summer, and that is expected to continue for this year. According to Childs, the schedule has been made for the Babe Ruth team this summer and it consists of 35 games, including three tournaments throughout the season.
The Babe Ruth team experienced the big fields last season. Without a Legion team, the Babe Ruth’s teams were moved to Dean Bullock field at the Sports Complex. A special outfield fence was erected closer to the bases to meet the Babe Ruth regulations.
“We thought that if the little kids saw that they could play on the big field and the jerseys and the big kids play, it would get them excited about it,” Childs said of the decision to move the Babe Ruth games to the Sports Complex, where the little league games are played.
Despite losing two players from last summer because of age, the team should still be in good shape for this year. Childs expects the Babe Ruth team to bring in some of the Little League players from last season.
“We are thinking that there are five or so solid major leaguers that will come up,” Childs said. “They’re true baseball players.”
Those five players that may take the field for the Tigers this summer were five of 200 registered athletes in Torrington Little League last year. Little League had 200 kids in their 50th season (2016), which was the same number of players in its inaugural year.
“We want more than the 200 kids,” Torrington Little League’s president Abe Correa said. “The additional kids will give us that fifth majors team that would help us out with the rotation.”
In 2016, there were four majors teams, seven minors teams and eight tee ball teams. Players can start in tee ball as early as four years old and can advance to the minors at age five. Majors are for 9-12 year olds, but an athlete can stay in the minors if they want, as long as they are younger than 12.
Coming off of its 50th campaign, Torrington Little League is set to host the district tournament this year. Teams from the eastern side of the state will head to Goshen County to vie for a spot in the state tournament.
“Players don’t always keep that all-star focused mindset, but with the opportunity to defend your home field, kids are going to be playing hard all season,” Correa said.
Torrington Little League has had plans to update its fields, and the district tournament coming to town is accelerating the process. Correa said pitching mounds will be added and the infields and warning tracks will be worked. There is a possibility bullpens could be built for this summer, Correa said.
“We will work around the updated timeline because we will absolutely not turn down a district or state tournament,” Correa said.
Torrington is also set to host the state little league tournament in 2019. The state tournament is in Laramie this summer before heading to the western part of the state for 2018.
The official sign-up day for Babe Ruth and Legion baseball is Sunday at the American Legion Hall from 6-6:30 p.m. Little League’s official sign-up day is set for Monday from 5-7:30 p.m. in the Platte Valley Bank conference room.
