When does the HBA season start and end?
For the spring season ages 12 and below, HBA typically starts practicing the first week in April, with one weeknight practice and one weekend practice. However, some teams will have two weeknights due to field availability. Depending on the number of teams and players, practices can be either at 5:30, 6:00, 7:30; or 8:00. Only players in the 9/10, 11/12, or Pony divisions would have practices or games that begin at 7:30 or 8. Around the first week of May the games start and typically consist of two games per week but weather cancellations results in additional games to make up those games. Our older age groups occasionally will play doubleheaders. We never play on Sunday, unless there are multiple rainouts. We try to wrap up our season by the end of June. The 9/10 and 11/12 divisions may be completed before the youngest divisions due to field scheduling.
Pony (ages 13 through 18) for the spring/summer may have games scheduled on any day of the week, including Sundays.
We also conduct a fall season with practices in August, games beginning in September, and the season concluding about mid-October.
Can I request specific practice or game nights?
We cannot honor specific requests for practice or game nights due to the number of kids in our program ( >500 per session).
How old does my child have to be to play HBA baseball and what are the age cutoffs?
Players need to be at least 3 years of age before they can play baseball in the HBA organization in our 3/4 instructional league and then tee ball begins at 5 years of age. The league ages are defined by the age of your child on May 1 for the spring season and as of August 1 for the fall season. For example, if your child is 5 on or before May 1, they will be placed in our 5/6 year old division.
What if we can't make it to some of the games?
Baseball is a team game where numbers are very important. If we assign 10 to a team and then 2 cannot make the game it penalizes the other kids that want to play that night. We understand conflicts exist but please try to make every effort to attend the practices and games as scheduled.
Do you grant requests for specific coaches or teammates?
Requests for specific coaches or teammates are not granted for any reason (other than brother or sister relationship). Carpool requests are not honored.
What is the deadline to register and pay fees?
For ages 3-12, registration will begin in January and end in early March. For ages 13-18, registration ends in early May. We cannot guarantee placement on a team if registration is received after leagues are full. Your best option is to register early as leagues usually fill up prior to the planned close of registration.
For our Fall Ball season, the registration typically opens in July and completes in early August.