How do I register my child/children?

Just head over to the Registration Portal to register for Spring or Fall Baseball.  Set up or log into your account w/ Stone Alley then register your child(ren).  

If you are having difficulty with the online registration, reach out to us at info@cvbaseballassociation.com.

What are the costs?

There a number of different costs associated with the baseball programs.  First, there is a registration fee.  This fee covers only a portion of the basic costs of the program like uniforms, hats, insurance, league fees, umpires (travel), basic equipment, field rental, and field supplies.  The mandatory fundraiser provides the association with the dollars needed for bigger field, faciliaty, and eqipmet improvements and purchases.  L-Screens, Batting Cages, and all-dirt infields at Witmer are few examples of recent expenditures.  There are also optional opportunities to make a donation at registration or for business sponsoship at registration.  It costs a lot to run a baseball program.  The association tries to balance fair fees and fundraiser requirements to parents while making up the difference with sponsorships and donations.

What are tryouts and evaluations?

All players playing 10U and up are required to attend evaluations usually in mid to late January in preparation for the spring season.  Evaluations are used to correctly assign players to teams based on skill and level of competition.  Players will be evaluated on a number of baseball skills such as: fielding, throwing, batting, running, pitching & catching.  Evaluations must be held early enough in the season to allow adequate time to assign players to teams and generate a schedule.

When registering for the 10U Recreation and Travel programs, we understand you may be unsure of which group to choose.  All 10U players are required to come to evaluations.  This is to help us make sure that all of our 10U players are ready and have the opportunity for the travel program and to ensure players are placed in the right team and to balance the recreational teams.  Any player that registers for 10U travel and is not selected for a travel team, or chooses to play in the recreational program, will be given a refund.

Some parents and players are looking to continue the recreational experience when reaching the 12U and 14U levels.  That still exists, but with a slightly different setup.  As kids get older, fewer continue to play baseball.  At the 10U level, we are able to have enough internal teams to have fun playing each other.  As the players get older, we need to seek games outside of CV.  The LCYBL divides players into sections in order to facilitate appropriate competition for players.  12U and 14U Section 3 facilitates the desires for a more recreational-level experience while having other teams to play (and paid umpires).

Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns regarding the registration fees.

Where do teams practice and play games?

We have three locations where practices and games are held.  However, sometimes games or practices will be held on other fields for special occaissions, make up games and for other scheduling reasons.

• T-Ball - Practices and Games are held at Witmer Heights Mennonite Church and Smoketown Elementary School.
• Rookies - Practices and Games are held at Smoketown Elementary School.
• 10U Rec - Practices and Games are held at Smoketown Elementary School or Witmer Heights Mennonite Church.
• 10U Travel - Practices and Games are held at Flory Park, Witmer Heights, or Leola-area fields.
• 12U Travel - Practices and Games are held at Flory Park, Witmer Heights, or Leola-area fields.
• 14U Travel - Practices and Games are held at LaFayette Park
• 17U - Practices and Games are held at the Varisty and JV field at CVHS.

When will practice and games begin?

Teams are selected and finalized in late February and early March. You can expect to hear from your child's coach in March with practice plans. All teams will begin practicing in late March or early April roughly two nights per week, or as the coach schedules at 6p.

Regular season games begin on Opening Day (mid to late April) and last through early June (roughly following the school calendar). Most games will be on weeknights Mon-Fri with occasional weekend games for inter-league play, special games and tournaments. You will receive a full schedule in April from your son's coach.

What type of equipment does my player need?

Each player is required to have a hat, glove, and long pants for practices and games. Uniforms are required for games. Rubber spike cleats are recommended. 

As part of the registration fee, players will receive a jersey and hat.  Both jersey and hat sizes will be requested during the registration process. 

Every player at every level is required to wear pants for practices and games.  Baseball pants are required for all travel teams and highly recommended for recreational teams for games.  Each travel coach will communicate with parents the style and color of pants required for the team. 

Helmets will be provided by the league.  However, players are welcome to use their own helmets provided the helmets meet safety standards. 

For Tee Ball and Rookies levels "safety" balls are used.  This is to encourage confidence during the early years.  For all other age groups, we use the appropriate hard baseballs for that age. 

All travel players on 12U and younger CVBA teams playing in LCYBL will be able to use bats that comply with 2017 pre-USA bat standards or the 2018 USA bat standards.  More simply, the bats must be stamped "USA Bat" or "BPF".  14U and older players must use bats stamped BBCOR. The clearest explanation of legal bats in the LCYBL is the Ripken Baseball Bat Rules.  All recreational players 10U and younger must follow the USA Bat standard and be stamped "USA Bat". 

Beginning Spring 2020, catchers in the travel program the catchers are required to wear NOCSAE standard helmets AND chest protectors.  CVBA provides equipment for catchers, but for any parents considering purchasing personal equipment for their player the helmet and chest protector must meet the NOCSAE standard.

Athletic supporters and cups are required for all travel players and for anyone playing catcher. 

Batting gloves, mouthguards, chestguards, equipment bags, and other equipment is not provided by CVBA. CVBA is not responsible for the loss or damage of any equipment purchased or owned outside of CVBA.

Rules

The recreational program benefits Tee Ball through 10U players develop baseball skills in both competetive and non-competetive environments.  Rules are developed over the years, but are tweaked prior to each season, to give the young players the best experience to develop those skills.  For 10U travel and up, CVBA players follow the rules established by LCYBL.  Please visit LCYBL's website for the Spring Baseball Rules Summaries for 8U through 10U and 12U through 14U.

What do I need to do to volunteer?

The CVBA Board of Directors believe that your direct involvement as a parent correlates to your player having a terrific season.  What makes Youth Baseball so great is having a large number of volunteers filling in a variety of roles.  All volunteers matter and many volunteers are needed.

Some volutneer positions like Managers and Coaches require our volunteers to be background checked.  If you've already been checked, you can upload your documents proving the check on our Stone Alley registration site.  Instructions on how to get background checked are located under our Coach section of our Resources page.