CANDIA BASEBALL/SOFTBALL
Candia Boys and Girls may participate in Baseball and Softball through Lamprey River Little League (Boys and Girls Baseball, 4-12 years old), Lamprey River Softball (Girls Softball, 6-16 years old) and Lamprey River Babe Ruth Baseball (Boys Baseball, 13-15 years old).
League Contact: Carl Carlson (Director) baseball@cyaasports.com
Facilities
Candia has three facilities for Baseball/Softball. At the CYAA, we have three fields: a T-ball field, and two Little League diamonds where Majors, Minors and Farm teams compete. At the town-owned Moore Park, we use the softball field for Girls Softball and Farm games. The Babe Ruth team uses the Moore School diamond. In addition to these outdoor fields, we have access to the indoor turf at the CYAA field house, a valuable asset that allows for winter programs and practices during inclement weather.
Lamprey River Softball League
Candia is part of the the Lamprey River Babe Ruth Softball League. We have not been fielding Candia-based teams in the league, but if you are interested in softball we need volunteers who would take on the task of pulling team(s) together and making softball an ongoing option for our girls. Contact the director if you are interested. He can also provide options to individuals or groups smaller than a team-size for playing on a non-Candia based team.
Lamprey River Little League
The Lamprey River Little League consists of the towns of Auburn, Candia, Deerfield, Northwood, Nottingham and Raymond. If your child plays in the Farm, Minors or Majors Divisions you will be traveling to these towns to play games. Our home games are played at the CYAA Fields or Moore Park. All T-Ball activities are not affiliated with the league but are Candia-only and held at the CYAA.
Registration opens in January with an early-March deadline. The season kicks off with an evaluation session, typically held on the indoor turf on the last Saturday in March. Practices start in April and the first games start during the first week in May. A 12-game season plus playoffs wraps up by mid-June.
For T-Ball only: April will be used to organize and train volunteers for a May start to the clinics.
All players who meet Little League’s strict residency requirements are eligible for Lamprey River Little League sanctioned All-Star and Tournament teams, which play into July and possibly August. In past seasons we have fielded teams in the Little League State Tournament for 10U and 12U, while fielding an 8U tournament team and a 9-10 year old Matty Dobens Tournament team (Manchester LL). The 12-year-old State Tournament champion moves on to the New England Regional Tournament which leads to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.
Lamprey River Little League Website
Divisions of Play
Important Note:All age information is a reference to your child’s “League Age”, which is often different than his/her actual age. Please look up and know your child’s “League Age”.
Little League’s official age determination calculator can be found here:
https://www.littleleague.org/play-little-league/determine-league-age/
Majors Baseball – Player Pitch (Ages 10-12):
Majors Baseball is the highest competitive division in Lamprey River Little League. The team is comprised of approximately 12 players and governed by the official Little League rules. Players must attend Evaluations in order to participate in the Majors division. Any player not selected to a Majors team will automatically be selected by a Minors team.
As a general rule all players age 11-12 should be playing Majors. 10-yr olds who are ready for more competitive baseball will be considered for Majors.
Majors teams typically play or practice a total of 4-5 times per week with games usually scheduled on Tuesdays, Thursdays and/or Saturdays.
Minors Baseball – Player Pitch (Ages 7-10):
Minors Baseball is a less competitive player pitch division. Lamprey River Little League follows a two division format for Minors, “AAA” and “AA”. AAA is more competitive and geared toward 10 year olds. The division follows official Little League rules with only some minor modifications. The “AA” division, geared toward 8-9 year olds, is less competitive and features more rules modifications such as scoring limits and stealing restrictions. All players who will be playing either division of Minors must attend evaluations.
As a general rule, all 10-yr olds should be playing AAA. 9-yr olds who are ready for more competitive baseball will be considered for AAA as well.
AA is for 8-yr olds and most 9-yr olds. 7-yr olds who are ready for more competitive baseball may attend evaluations and be considered for AA.
AAA teams typically play or practice a total of 4-5 times per week with games usually scheduled on Tuesdays, Thursdays and/or Saturdays.
AA teams typically play or practice a total of 3-4 times per week with games usually scheduled on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Farm Baseball – Coach Pitch (Ages 6-8):
Farm Baseball is an instructional coach pitch division designed to help players develop the fundamental skills necessary to move on to play at the Minor division level. While games are played, results are not tracked and the rules are highly modified in order to emphasize skill development over competitiveness. Six-year-olds should have played a year of T-Ball before participating in Farm. Attendance at Evaluations is not required.
Farm teams typically play or practice a total of 3-4 times per week with games usually scheduled on Mondays and Saturdays.
T-Ball – (Ages 4-6):
T-Ball is an introductory program for familiarizing players to the game of baseball. Here, they begin to develop their fundamental skills of throwing, catching, and hitting. T-Ball is a clinic style program designed to involve both parents and kids. The clinics are typically held on Friday evenings at the T-ball field (look for the mini Green Monster!) or inside the field house. Some coaches also hold a mid-week practice.
Lamprey River Babe Ruth
Boys 13-15 are welcome to participate in Babe Ruth Baseball. Note that Babe Ruth is a different organization than Little League so it follows a different age chart. Contact the Director for details.