Tryouts for the Tullahoma Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth leagues is coming up this month.

Tryouts for both Player Pitch divisions will be held Saturday, Feb. 15 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. There will be a make-up at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Tryouts for Rookie (7-8 Machine Pitch) will be held Saturday, Feb. 22 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. There will be no make-up for this age group. Teams will be drafted by managers via snake draft. Only players who tryout will be eligible for the draft. Players who do not tryout will be placed on teams by random draw. There are no tryouts for TeeRook or TeeBall. Teams will be drafted by managers via snake draft.

Practices will begin in March. Opening Ceremonies will be held Saturday, March 29 at 11 a.m. at Waggonner Park. Some divisions may play their first games that day, and games will also be played the following week and continuing through at least Memorial Weekend (weather depending).

Tullahoma Area Baseball, also known as Tullahoma Cal Ripken (TCRL) or Tullahoma Babe Ruth, operates in a best-effort to provide the children of the area the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, courage, and respect though recreational baseball, so they may be well-adjusted, stronger, and happier children who may grow to be good, decent, healthy, and trustworthy individual.

With an emphasis placed on having fun, player safety, and sportsmanship, TCRL will provide an opportunity for the youth in our area to participate and compete in an organized baseball recreational league.

The Major division will play on a 50/70 field and will be for players born May 1, 2012 through April 30, 2014.

The Minor division will play on a 46/60 field and will be for players born May 1, 2014 through April 30, 2016.

The Rookie division will be a machine pitch division for players born May 1, 2016 through April 30, 2018.

The TeeRook division will be a hybrid of coach pitch and TeeBall with eligible dates of birth from May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2020.

The Tee Ball division is for first year players from May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2021.

Tullahoma Area Baseball is excited to announce the switch to Cal Ripken Baseball for its operational charter. Changing the sanctioning of our local recreational league was not an easy decision. Tullahoma and Little League have had a fantastic and historically relevant relationship for over 60 years. However, after considerable research, we believe it will be to the benefit of our young ball players to make this change.

Ten years ago, Little League made the unpopular decision to remove one-third of the children in an age group midway through their childhood baseball experience by changing to the current Fall birthdate cut-off. Cal Ripken utilizes the April 30 date of birth for age of play which will match all other sanctioning bodies. The biggest difference between Cal Ripken and Little League lies in the field of play dimensions. In the major division (11-12), Cal Ripken’s pitching distance is 50 feet and the bases are 70 feet apart (compared with 46 and 60 feet, respectively, in Little League).

Referred to as 50/70 play, this allows base runners to lead off, stealing is permitted and pitchers work out of the stretch with runners on base. According to THS Baseball Head Coach Bryan Morris, “the larger field, the more standard baseball rules, and longer pitching distance in the Cal Ripken League helps prepare the 11 and over players for the next level of baseball.” Coach Morris was also excited about this change since Cal Ripken offers children older than 12 the opportunity to continue recreational baseball through its Babe Ruth league.

There are also some league, division, and team structural and composition advantages to the change, which we would be happy to discuss if you have any questions. For anyone concerned about how the change may impact your child’s league, the great news is our local volunteers have been and will continue to be the driving force behind the local league. What you love about the local league will not be noticeably different from what you and the children have been experiencing. We believe the best way to judge a league is by its volunteers and we are appreciative of ours, especially the managers and coaches.

The QR code can be scanned here: