In the north of the country there are only 10 clubs offering baseball, softball and BeeBall. So there are far fewer young players than in the west. And yet this region manages every…
In the north of the country there are only 10 clubs offering baseball, softball and BeeBall. So there are far fewer young players than in the west. And yet this region manages every year to enter 4 teams in the Dutch Little League. The kids love three days of baseball against players they never meet during the regular season, in teams that are often a size too big for them — and still they always enjoy taking part.
In the North, softball has had a hard time in recent years. The clubs no longer have youth softball teams and there are only a few women’s senior teams left. The girls who enjoy our sports happily switch to baseball and strengthen those teams. It is worrying all the same, because it means there may come a period with no softball at all in that region.
A number of experienced, enthusiastic softball players from the region, among them international Dinet Oosting, started the ‘Meiden uit het Noorden’ initiative again this winter. A group of girls between 12 and 16 who normally play baseball at their club are now being offered softball training by these stars. They train hard! They are so keen that they would now also like to play some games. That led to the question whether they could take part in the NKLL. After consulting the other regions it was clear that everyone wholeheartedly supports this initiative and would like to give them the chance to have a good softball experience. They will take part outside the competition and play a few games to find out how much fun softball is!
We of course wish the girls lots of fun in training and look forward to seeing the team in Almere at Whitsun! And if you are from that region and would like to take part too, let us know! We will put you in touch with the coaches.
Originally published on nklittleleague.nl.
