Around the Horn Volume 14

• Dick’s Sporting Goods Shopping Day (this weekend)
• Pitching & Catching Clinic Dates/Signups
• Order your trading pins now for opening day, they take a couple weeks to arrive
• For Families new to Hardball, last week’s email is included below as it has some information to reference
• Registration update
• Fast pitch softball announcement for the Fall

Dick’s Shopping Days

Dick’s Sporting Goods is a Hardball corporate sponsor. They provide shopping days for the league and the Discount Coupon below gives families 20% in the store (and online in their in-store kiosk) and gives them a way to track their investment in the Hardball baseball community. The discount applies to entire purchases for the whole store, not just baseball (with limited exceptions on certain items they are not permitted to discount). It is not limited to Hardball players either, so if Dick’s (or Golf Galaxy by the way) sells it in store or online it is likely covered. See the dates on the Coupon below.

See below for the remaining pitching and catching clinic dates/times. Remaining spots in parentheses.

Trading Pins

    If your team is participating in the trading pins (highly encouraged but not mandatory), you will want to reach out to the company in the link below, or any other trading pins company and order them as soon as your team is set and you have team numbers. See below for important information and samples from last season. Just remember, these take a couple weeks to produce and ship so do not delay. The earlier you order, the cheaper they are. 

Registration/Season Update

    The Hardball Spring Season is full. Players will be able to continue to register this week for their teams, but no new 7U, 8U, or 9U teams will be added this season.

Rookie Ball Update

The Rookie Ball division will welcome 3 new clubs this year, for a total of 4 teams. Coaches, look for more details on this unique division and how we are going to help these players get ready for 6U in the Fall.

6U Update

The 6U modified TBall division will expand to 10 teams this Spring. Coaches be on the lookout for division specific details. RB and 6U will have a combined coaches meeting coming up at the end of February. Just to clarify, these 2 divisions are independent, and will not be scheduled against each other in any head-to-head games. 

7U Update

7U will have 14 teams, with a plan for a Warriors and a Scouts division, each with 7 teams. Teams will be placed based on skill level and performance in the team challenges and head-to-head matchups on opening day. Coaches will receive a meeting request for the rules meeting where scheduling, and proposed rules will be discussed briefly ahead of the coaches meeting that will take place in late February.

8U Update

Currently, 8U has 12 teams listed, but 1 team has not registered enough players, and another is deciding whether they will remain in 8U or move up to 9U for player pitch. So, there are possibly 10 teams in this division. There will be a brief rules conference with 8U coaches to discuss final team count, proposed rules, and division options. This call will be in early February ahead of the late February in-person coaches meeting. Be on the lookout for further details.

9U Update

This division has 8 teams currently designated as 9U and will remain a single division for this season. Therefore, there will not be a modified player pitch format, just player pitch. Coaches please be on the lookout for further details regarding the February coaches meeting.

10U Update

This division still has several teams that have registered their teams, but have not registered players, or met the minimum player registrations. Coaches please be on the lookout for further details on dates and proposed rules for this division.

Fast Pitch Softball is Coming

There have been a lot of you that have asked about Hardball organizing a fast-pitch league. That is in the works for the fall. Any of you that have an interest in getting a team together starting with kinder through 6th grade, please reach out to get in the loop on the future plans.

PRIOR EMAIL NEWS

Important Dates & Details

Practices start February 20th

For Dallas Teams. The City of Dallas Parks & Rec will be reviewing applications for league status at some point in February. Once approved, Hardball will circulate a field reservation sheet to all teams 7U and above to gather preferred days/times for Glencoe and Norbuck fields. In the meantime, teams can book practice fields individually 2 weeks in advance for a maximum of 2 weeks (Dallas PR Rules, not Hardball’s) using the online portal or in person at the PR office near Flagpole Hill Baseball Fields | Dallas Parks, TX – Official Website

For Park Cities Teams. UP Parks & Rec uses the following online portal for field reservations. Parks & Recreation | City of University Park, Texas (uptexas.org) Hardball can reserve practice fields for teams starting February 6, 2023. Reservations are booked on a first come first served basis and Residents have priority over leagues other than the YMCA.

Teams can begin practices the Monday following Spring Break. If teams book fields on their own, please forward receipts and submit for reimbursement to Dallas Hardball via email at the end of the Spring season.

     Opening Day Ceremony – March 25th

The opening day event is mandatory for all teams this season. For all the families, there will be bounce houses, batting cages with pitching machine (Hardball Staff will feed the machine), snow cones, cash bar and food (available for purchase from Over/Under and RoundHouse). Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family. There are several things going on that will be coordinated, and the schedule below will likely get moved around, but will follow this general timeline:

8:00 am – 8:30 am – Teams arrive and setup team tables/tents. Each team will set up a table that will serve as a landing pad for personal belongings/baseball bags, meeting place for players and parents, and outline the player path along the parade route. I’ve attached a sample photo below from last season.

9:00 am – Teams lineup in staging area to begin parade. Once all teams are lined up in order by age division from Rookie ball up to 10U, Hardball staff will inform the first teams to start the parade. Teams will end the parade in the designated spot in the stands or on the field.

10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Team competitions and Mini Games (7U thru 10U) begin and will include Home Run Derby, Baserunning, Around the Horn, and Team Pitch. These events will be scored by division and will be a part of leveling divisions. Mini Games will be expedited head-to-head (no umpires, start each at-bat with 1/1 pitch count, 5 total pitch limit) exhibitions where each team in a division will bat their lineup then rotate into the field to play defense. All teams 7U and above must participate and have at least 9 players (no guest players permitted for leveling purposes). Teams will be scored based on several offensive and defensive metrics. The same adult pitcher will pitch to all teams in the same division.

10:00 am – 12:00 pm – Individual Competition signups/events will be going on including fastest 40-yard dash, long toss, sliding competition, and others.

10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Team Photos. A team photo signup genius will circulate prior to the event. Each team is required to sign up for a Team Photo slot. These team and individual photos will be used to create the website Team Pages, and parents can purchase team and individual photos as well. Hardball is also working on something special for the parents that will require all the teams participate in the team photos so please clear March 25, 2023 on your calendars. Please make sure your team is fully outfitted in uniforms on this date.

10:00 – 3:00 pm – Team Pins Trading. Aside from the baseball competitions, this is probably the part of the event that kids enjoy the most. Participation in the pins trading is optional, but highly encouraged. Each team will custom design and purchase 20 or more trading pins for each player on their team. Don’t worry, these pins, if ordered well in advance, are typically $1 to $2 per pin (but can get more expensive depending on size and gadgetry – 1.5 to 1.75″ is recommended). See photos of samples from last season for reference. This is a social event for the players as they will run around to other teams and ask them to trade with them for their pin. Players take pride in their team pins and the fancier the pin the more players will want to trade for them. Teams can use any company they prefer but here is the link to one that has been used by many teams in the past and is reliable, high quality and priced reasonably:

www.gs-jj.com

Be sure and order these at least 2 weeks in advance. Get them ordered before spring break just to make sure you get the best pricing. Also, it is recommended that you do not pass out pins prior to the start of the event because they will get lost, etc. It is also recommended that each player have a rally towel or something to attach the pins to so that they can keep track of them.

     Games Start Friday March 31st

Game times per age division will vary Saturday and Sunday, and will include a few Friday night games (by special request). As of now, registration is still open and a few teams are still registering. Schedules will be made right after the Opening Day event leveling is completed and should be circulated to coaches by Sunday, March 26, 2023.

Blackout Dates/Times Due March 20th

Each head coach can request up to 2 blackout dates for the Spring Season as well as 1 blanket blackout time for the entire season. These special requests must be received no later than 3/20/23 to be considered. No later requests can be accommodated, so please get them in sooner rather than later to avoid forgetting.

Regular Season Ends June 4th

The final regular season games will be completed by the date, including any makeup or rainout games. This season, Hardball is scheduling from 2-6 additional games, which serves as pre-scheduled makeups for rainouts. If coaches have a scheduling conflict, please reach out to the other teams in the division to try to work out schedule swaps and communicate any changes to Hardball. Any scheduling conflicts that cannot get worked out between coaches, may get rescheduled at an alternate field location, or if a mutual conflict, will get removed from the schedule, and if not a mutual conflict, may result in a forfeit for the team that cannot make the game. Forfeits aren’t good for anyone, especially the players, so please do your best to resolve scheduling conflict in advance.

Playoffs – June 9th – 11th

The format of the playoffs will depend on a number of variables such as final number of teams, and divisions, but they will take place June 9th through the 11th.

All-Stars Week and Games

All-Stars will be based on participation. The cost per player will be approximately $150 and will include an All-Stars jersey. Registration and Tryouts will take place the week between June 4th and June 11th and all games will be played June 16th -18th.

Registration Update

Spring Registration is coming to a close next week so please get your players registered so we can start to coordinate schedules. See the link below for the newly redesigned registration process.

Also, for coaches that do not have a login, or need to get registered as a coach, please use this link to do so (if you don’t know, then yes, you need to do so):

Coach Registration – Dallas Hardball