We have some exciting baseball news that may affect league age 12-13 year old players. This coming season, Lewisburg Little League will offer a new division of baseball called "Little League Intermediate (50/70) Baseball." Teams in the new division will play on a field with a 50’ pitching mound distance and 70’ base paths. This new division offers a field size in between the current Major’s 46’ pitching distance and 60’ base paths (46/60) and the Juniors/Seniors 60’ 6” pitching distance and 90’ base paths (60/90), also used by High School and Major League Baseball. 

This new Division will include players league age 12-13 years old.  Lewisburg will still field major baseball and junior baseball teams, and players are able to play on both 50/70 and major baseball or 50/70 and junior baseball (depending on age) if interested.

Until now, rising 13 year olds who finished Majors were expected to go from a 46’/60’ field to a 60’/90’ field in the Juniors program. This big adjustment with a 30’ jump in base paths and 14’ jump in pitching distance may have deterred kids from continuing to play baseball beyond Majors. The new 50/70 division offers a bridge for 13 year olds and also offers a new baseball option for 12 year olds. This new division will allow base runners to lead off, so pitchers will learn to hold runners on and attempt to pick them off. The fences for the 50/70 division will also be a little deeper.

Just like the Majors division, Intermediate baseball will have an all-star team. There will also be District, State and Regional tournaments leading to a World Series in California.

There are still many questions regarding specific rules, drafting procedures, and other details which we expect to be answered by Little League International in or soon after December, but as of right now, this is the information we have available to share with you.

In the meantime, the Board is working to determine the impact of this change on our players, the fields, and the number of Juniors and Majors teams we will have this Spring. We will post more information as it becomes available. 

If you have questions, please contact your League’s Player Agent or League President for information. Please ask as many questions as you can and help us make the best decisions for our players.

 

Bottom line, the Board firmly believes that the new 50/70 division will, over time, provide more opportunities for our players and a better chance to develop their baseball skills.