Wilmette Baseball Association
Pinto Spring House League
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Pinto League (2nd and 3rd graders)
Welcome to the Pinto League's 2010 Spring House League. The Pinto Spring House League Season is the cornerstone of the Pinto League program with supporting Summer, Fall, and Winter programs. The primary goal of the Pinto League program is to provide a positive, introductory-level baseball experience for 2nd and 3rd graders, many of whom have never played organized baseball. While we support teams and players practicing, preparing and striving to win, the real focus of the Pinto League is on player skill development, teamwork, fun, developing new friendships, sportsmanship and understanding the game.
Here's a brief summary of the Pinto League programs:
Pinto Spring House League - this is the primary Pinto League program, teams are formed with full coaching staffs, uniforms, practices, instructional and regular league games, exhibition game at Roemer Park, All-Star games
Pinto Summer House - an instructional program and league, uniforms
Pinto Summer Travel - two 9 year old (baseball age) travel teams (with tryouts) in the North Shore Feeder Baseball League
Pinto Winter - series of one-hour clinics
Pinto Fall - instructional program and games, casual
The following information refers to the Pinto 2010 Spring House League program. Registration begins in January 2010 and runs thru mid-February. Teams are formed in March and practices can begin shortly thereafter. The Pinto Spring House League season runs thru mid-June.
Leagues, Teams, Managers/Coaches, Practices, Opening Day, Games The Pinto League Spring House League consists of 20-24 teams in two leagues - American and National. Teams are not school-based and each team is usually composed of 12-13 2nd and 3rd grade players (limit of 312 players). Teams have pre-season practices (2 to 3 per week) at pre-determined times starting in mid-to-late March after the draft in order to get ready for the season. There are two instructional games scheduled for each time prior to opening day. The Pinto League's 2010 opening day ceremony will be held at Roemer Park on May 8th, 2010 starting at 9:00 am. This event, one of the season's highlights, kicks off the regular season. In full uniform, over 200 players compete in contests, get advice from former major league players, and get a sense of what is before them - a unique opportunity to learn about and play an old fashioned game called “The National Pastime”. The season's first game follows the ceremony at Roemer Park, while other teams move to Thornwood Park to begin their season. The Pinto League season consists of pre-season Instructional Games and regular season games. Most games are at Thornwood Park across from Harper School with some at Hibbard South at the Community Rec Center on Glenview Road. Teams also play one (1) Exhibition game at Roemer Park. Once the season starts, teams play two regular season games per week - one game is on a weekday from Monday - Friday starting at 5:45 pm and the other game is on either Saturday (morning or afternoon) or Sunday afternoon. Teams also schedule at least one practice each week in the first part of the season to work on skills. The regular season concludes on June 18th. The season ends with three All-Star Games on Saturday, June 19th at Roemer Park where the top four players from each team get to showcase their skills. There are no playoffs in the Pinto League. Managers and Coaches
Each Pinto team typically has a manager (or head coach) and three official coaches who assist the manager in all aspects of organizing and running a team. Interested parents not able to make the commitment are encouraged to volunteer and help out in some way. Most coaching staffs include two parents of second graders.
Team managers (or head coach) can be parents of 2nd or 3rd graders. Parents interested in managing (head coach) or coaching should contact Bill Pritz at bpritz@logility.com as soon as possible after registration opens, but no later than January 25, 2010. The Pinto league welcomes coaches who wish to coach together in groups of two (2), three (3) or four (4) if no more than two of their players attend the same school. There is usually just a few teams that need an entire four person coaching staff.
The players of all managers and coaches are placed on their parent's team during the draft process; however, all new players in Pinto including coaches' kids go thru evaluations to assess their ability level as we attempt to balance teams.
Managers and coaches play a very important role and are expected to carry out the goals of the program and to create a positive team environment and by:
1. organizing constructive practices and teaching players how to play the game so they can improve their skills through drills;
2. preparing the team for each game emphasizing trying hard and playing their best in hopes of winning;
3. teaching the rules and respect for rules and the game;
4. promoting sportsmanship and teamwork with respect for umpires and other players.
The Pinto League provides direction and instruction to Pinto Managers and Coaches including a pre-season meeting, a coaching clinic, preseason practices/games run by professionals, practice plans, and more.
How Players are Assigned to Teams
After registration ends in February, third grade players in their second year of Pinto are automatically placed on the same Pinto team from the prior year (and they do not go thru player evaluations).
Player evaluations are required for all 2nd and 3rd grade players in their first year in Pinto (returning players are automatically placed on their prior year's team). These evaluations consist of a brief, individual set of throwing, catching, hitting, and running drills with all the coaches in attendance with the sole purpose being team balancing.
Player are divided into two leagues, and player evaluations for the upcoming season will be on March 7th, 2010 from 1:00-5:00 pm at Harper School. Players will be notified via email by February 28th of their specific evaluation time. The coaches then select the players using a draft system (all players registering and going thru evaluations in March are drafted and placed on a team). Those players, whose parent is a manager or coach, are always drafted to the same team that their parent is coaching. Brothers and sisters are placed on the same team if this information is brought to our attention. The Pinto League is not organized by school, and provides an opportunity to meet and develop new relationships. Requests to have friends be on the same team are denied. Coaches are expected to not draft by school and there is a limit of four 2nd graders from the same schoool on a team.
Some Noteworthy Pinto Rules
The Wilmette Baseball Association has a Code of Conduct for coaches, fans, umpires, and players. The conduct of coaches, players, fans, and umpires is expected to be exemplary, with only positive cheering and comments allowed. Managers and coaches should not make calls for the umpires and managers may only dispute rules (not judgement calls) after calling timeout and discussing with the umpire and the other team's manager. Managers are responsible for communicating our Code of Conduct to players and parents.
Players do all the pitching with a 2 inning limit per game. All players must play at least 4 innings per 6 inning game. All players present are in the batting order. In the first half of the season, a player who gets 4 balls gets to hit off the tee instead of claiming 1st base. Stealing 2nd is allowed after two outs. Stealing of 3rd base is allowed anytime. There are no lead-offs.
Click here to view full rules.
Summer Baseball 2010
The WBA also sponsors two competitive Summer Travel Teams for nine year olds (based on baseball age as of 4/30/2010) in the new Lake Shore Feeder Baseball League of which the WBA is one of the founding members. Players interested need to register for Tryouts which will be held in April or May. See the information posted on our website for Pinto Travel. This program is recommended for eligible players with an very good skill level.
A Summer Pinto Instructional Baseball League for graduating 2nd and 3rd graders as well as a Mustang Summer Program for graduating 3rd and 4th graders are available for those not playing on the Travel teams. These programs are exclusively for those who played in the Pinto League during 2010.
Fall Baseball 2010
The WBA sponsors a Pinto Fall Instructional program for incoming 2nd graders and a Fall League for incoming 3rd and 4th graders.
Winter Baseball 2011
The Pinto League offers a series of one-hour instructional clinics for players by age level in conjunction with the Strike Zone. Players register directly with the Strike Zone for specific WBA Pinto sessions.
For more information contact:
Jim Ferguson, President, pinto@wilmettebaseball.org
Steve Berceau, VP, (847) 251-8046
Bill Nelson, VP, (847) 256-7431
Brian Cohen, VP, (847) 251-1304
Rick Hrabe, Umpire Coordinator, umps@wilmettebaseball.org
Bill Pritz, VP
