Northern Lights Little League (NLLL) is fully committed to providing quality community-based competitive baseball for our 13- to 16-year-olds. The past couple years we struggled to find nearby Little Leagues that shared this vision, and the quality of competition suffered. Even with that, our 13-year-old Intermediate All Star team brought home a State title for NLLL and made the quarter finals of the Little League Regional tournament in Arizona. It was a great and exciting run.

Because of the above, NLLL sought better opportunities for quality community based competitive baseball for our 13- to 16-year-olds. We knew even with the success from 2024, we need to provide both better quality and more opportunities. After exploring options, internal discussions, and really good discussions with Little League, we are able to make significant changes from years past regarding 13- to 16-year-old baseball.

NLLL believes providing families with different opportunities for them to choose is important as we understand not all families have the same desires and goals for baseball. Because of this we have come up with the following options:

Community Based Baseball for 13 to 16 Year Olds

The heart of our teenager baseball program will be a community-based competitive baseball program. NLLL will never steer away from that because that is who we are at our core. So, any 13- to 16-year-old that either lives or attends a school within our boundaries and wants to play baseball, has a home with us.

Every player that registers with us and attends a player assessment will be placed on a community-based team that will play 18-20 games within the Little League program playing other teams from NLLL or other Little Leagues. All of this is included in the $274 registration fee and no other fees will be charged by the league. If a family chooses to travel for some games, the travel cost will be on the families to pay.

Play Other Little League Teams Locally

We understand that not all families want to or can travel for their kids to play baseball. Because of this, the following are options we have developed with the last two being new or updated from the 2024 season:

1. Play other teams within NLLL (These have been competitive games).
2. Play teams from other Little Leagues in our District (typically within 30 minutes). New from last year, we will only play teams in other Little Leagues in our district that have committed to advancing their 13- to 16-year-old baseball programs and fielding teams that want to play baseball.
3. Play teams from District 5 Little Leagues (Arapahoe County and south Denver area) on weekends.

Teams and players, as drafted and formed at the beginning of the season, will play all these games.

NLLL will strive to ensure each player will have the opportunity to play at least 14 games in this local schedule.

Play Other Little League Teams With Some Travel

We also understand that some families want to travel for their kids to play baseball. Because of this, the following are new options we have developed or are working to develop:

1. Play teams from District 1 Little Leagues on the West Slope (Glenwood Springs to Grand Junction).
2. Play teams from Laramie Wyoming Little League (an hour and 45 minutes) on weekends.
3. Play teams from New Mexico Little Leagues.
4. Play teams from Las Vegas Nevada Little Leagues.
5. Play Little League teams from other states as desired.

Playing these games will be 100% optional for each family.  At times, players from different regular season teams may be combined on one team to take advantage of these opportunities. As an example, let’s say we have four Junior teams (14-year-olds), and we have an opportunity to go to Nevada to play other Little Leagues. Let’s assume three families from each of these four teams agree to go to Nevada. NLLL will form one team from those 12 players to travel down to Nevada.

These families will not be charged an extra fee for the games, fields, or umpires. The $274 registration fee will cover this. The only cost for these families would be the travel cost to Nevada in this example and maybe a slight cost for a different jersey.

Tournament Baseball for 13 to 16 Year Olds

NLLL also understands there are families that desire to have their kids play in a limited number of weekend tournaments from outside organizations not affiliated with Little League (Caba, USSSA, or Triple Crown). NLLL will now be able to provide these opportunities. No player will ever be allowed to play in these tournaments that are not part of a community-based team described above. We are NOT a travel ball organization and will never become one.

Some important points on this:

• These opportunities are invitational only from the coaches and managers who form the teams.
• NLLL has no part in managing or organizing these teams. This is 100% on the coaches and managers and they will decide what limited number of tournaments the team will play.
• A player who pitches in these tournament games will have their pitch counts tracked and follow the Little League pitch count limits and days’ rest requirements between these tournaments and Little League play.
• Families are responsible for costs of tournaments, indoor facility rental if desired, and any needed travel. The coaches and managers will provide estimates of those costs.
• NLLL can get you in touch with the coaches and managers creating these teams.

We look forward to a wonderful Spring 2025 season for our 13- to 16-year-olds.