Babe Ruth program dropped; LL juniors division added

Changes to Powell youth baseball have been finalized after Powell Little League Baseball voted to create a new age division on Jan. 11.

A vote by the Little League board green-lighted formation of a 13- and 14-year-old Juniors Division, effectively folding Powell’s Babe Ruth team in the process.

According to former Powell Babe Ruth President Casey Dearcorn, due to fading league competition statewide, changes were made to boost player numbers as well as the competitiveness of Little League and American Legion Baseball. Babe Ruth fielded players between 13 and 15 years old, but the changes will see 15-year-olds move up to American Legion ball.

“The last couple of years, one of the things I’ve noticed while being part of Babe Ruth is there has been a steady decline in Babe Ruth [teams],” Dearcorn said. “This past season was probably one of the more difficult seasons for us because we traveled from Powell all the way down to Lander ... and the level of competition for our kids ... it was very difficult to find [strong teams].”

Four Babe Ruth programs have already folded: Powell, Green River, Lovell and Rock Springs, and Dearcorn expects more towns to follow. The Powell Little League board’s decision to create the Juniors Division came as a direct response to American Legion adding Babe Ruth’s 15-year-olds to their mix of 16-and-up players.

American Legion made the decision to move Babe Ruth’s 15-year-olds into their league last fall, which left Babe Ruth Baseball to decide on its future. After Little League’s approval of a new division, the Babe Ruth board voted to disband its league.

“This change has been evaluated for a couple of years,” said Dearcorn, who is now director of the Juniors Division. “It happened because the state of baseball in Wyoming is changing. For us to provide competitive baseball programs to our kids and develop them in a way to be successful, we had to change, too.”

Jason Borders, head coach of Powell American Legion’s Powell Pioneers, agreed the move was necessary to sustain competitiveness in each league, and to provide baseball that will keep kids interested.

“I don’t know if it’s a bad thing necessarily,” Borders said. “But we’re losing kids. I don’t know what it is ... if it’s soccer programs, if it’s other things going on.

“But what will help us is that those 13- and 14-year-olds won’t have to face a 15-year-old on the mound, and maybe they won’t be scared away from moving up through our system,” he said.

Borders and Dearcorn both agreed that providing kids the opportunity to play with and against others in their own age group could boost numbers. But Chris Queen, president of the Little League board, said not everyone was happy with the move.

“Some folks were disappointed over the fact their 15-year-olds will be moving into a more competitive league,” Queen said. “And yes, it’s realistic that a 15-year-old pitcher could be facing a 19-year-old-batter.”

Dearcorn said a system is being put into place to combat that issue.

“We will be working off of a player development list given to us by [Borders],” Dearcorn said, “And that list and the development is designed to have the kids ready to play Legion baseball at the age of 15.”

When asked in November about the impending age discrepancy at that level, scenario, Borders admitted the overhaul in Powell baseball is “an experiment.”

“Baseball across the state is going this way, I don’t want to say that it’s dying, but maybe it is,” Borders said. “A lot of teams are having to steal kids from Babe Ruth anyway just to fill out their rosters.”

American Legion Board President George Fernandez said “a change in lifestyle in the past 20 or 30 years” could be a cause for lower participation, but he believes the changes could kick-start a reversal in that trend.

“We’re trying to bring Legion baseball back to Powell, and it’s kind of been broken for a while,” Fernandez said. “If you level the playing field, I think it attracts more interest and I think kids and parents will see that and our numbers will grow.”