Story by Dave Caldwell of SCV News

Santa Clarita families interested in youth baseball have a new choice, the Santa Clarita Little League.

The new league is taking over the charter that was the Castaic Little League with the intention to use renovated fields next to the Valencia Travel Village off the I-5 and Highway 126.

Kids from 4 to 12 can play baseball in the new league with four different age-appropriate divisions.

But there is a twist.

“Based on your ability you can play up or you can play down,” said Eric Smith, Director of Operations for SCLL. “So if it’s the first time you’ve ever played, and you as a parent don’t think that you’re kid is strong enough to play in an upper division, you can always go down a division to introduce them to baseball so that they fall in love with baseball rather than being scared of a kid throwing a pitch at them or something like that.  They can can start in t-ball if they’d like.”

Registration is now open for the league, which will play from February through the end of May. Registration costs $200.

“There’s no volunteer fee, you’re not going to have to work the concessions, you’re not going to have to drag the field to get money back,” said Jeff Nuttall, Vice President of SCLL. “You’re not going to have to go out to buy pants, you’re not going to have to buy a belt, you’re not going to have to fork out extra money for practice fields.  Once you pay that fee your Little League experience is paid for.”

The ultimate goal of the league will be to send a team to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and the Little League World Series on ESPN. Organizers are quick to point out that is just one of the advantages the league has, in their opinion, over Hart PONY Baseball.

“With Little League there is no all stars for a six-year old,” Smith said. “I think at six years old you plat the basic fundamentals, you have a good time and then go have summer.”

For more information, go to the website.