For the first time this season all five Little League organizations will be playing baseball games against each other at the Major League level.
Wyoma Little League will join the arrangement for the 2012 season, becoming the final organization to compete with Pine Hill, Lynn Shore, West Lynn American, and East Lynn in weekly games.
“Wyoma will be doing it for the first time,” said District 16 Administrator Joe Baglieri. “This will be the first year of full inter-league play in Lynn.”
Baglieri said he endorsed the idea when the Lynn presidents approached him with the idea.
“Wyoma always had enough teams to play only intra-league games,” said Baglieri. “But they’re down to five teams and it’s easier for their schedule to play inter-league. I’m happy that all five leagues are now in the schedule.”
It is not clear yet whether the inter-league games will count toward each league’s regular season standings. The five league champions do compete in the Lynn City Series each year.
Chad Wilkins, past president of Wyoma, is pleased with Wyoma’s addition to inter-league play.
“I think it’s fabulous,” said Wilkins. “It will be a good chance for our kids to play against other kids from other parts of the city who might see each other in other sports. It’s good to mingle with the other leagues.”
District 16 Administrator Joe Baglieri told the Lynn Journal that the district membership has decreased by one for the 2012 season.
“Salem American and Salem National has merged its two leagues into one,” said Baglieri. “We now have 18 leagues in District 16.”
What that means is that Salem Little League should be a formidable opponent in the District 16 Williamsport Tournament. Peabody West is the reigning champion, having come out of the losers’ bracket to stun Wyoma Little League in the finals last year.
“Salem merged because they felt it was in their best interests to do so,” said Baglieri. “Their numbers were shrinking and they had boundary issues with the way they set up the city. The voting wards had changed and that’s how their Little League boundaries were set up and it was creating a big nightmare. Little League Baseball agreed to let them merge.”
Interestingly, there has been talk, albeit unofficial conversations among Lynn LL presidents, about Lynn Little Leagues dividing the city into two and creating East Lynn and West Lynn organizations. That would mean just two 12-year-old All-Star teams and it goes without saying that Lynn would be a contender for a state title and the Little League World Series almost ever year. Could you imagine some of the talent Lynn could put on the baseball field if there had been only two All-Star teams in the past?