9 and 10 year olds play in the Minor league.  Practice, game schedules, the number of players per team, the method of selecting teams are the same as the Intermediate league. Some new aspects are added as follows-

• League play usually starts in late April
• Games are six innings long and are played to completion unless darkness or inclement weather force an earlier conclusion.
• HFLMYB fields have “home run” fences.
• Players pitch the games using standard baseballs. For the first half of the season, there are no walks. After the pitcher throws four balls, the hitter’s coach pitches, in accordance with the hitter’s skill level. In the second half of the season, only players pitch and four balls equals a walk.
• Umpires call balls and strikes from behind the plate. Volunteer coaches provide the umpiring on weeknights; paid umpires work the weekend games.
• While leading off bases is not allowed; limited stealing is introduced mid way through the season.
• Team records and league standings are maintained. At the end of the regular season, every team is seeded based on their records and a modified double elimination tournament is played to determine the league champion.

Minor league players also have the opportunity to try out for travel teams. These teams are competitively selected and play in our league tournament in late June/early July as well as several other tournaments in neighboring towns through the month of July.  See “TOURNAMENT TEAMS” for more information.  Fall Ball is also available for players in this age group.