Mt. Vernon Optimist Club provides Spring and Fall Baseball programs.  Spring season is competitive with games and a tournament, while Fall season is for skills development, practice and games.  If your child is age 3-4 y/o, they should sign up for T-Ball under our Baseball Fall season. We are always looking for ways to improve after each season and have taken your feedback into consideration.

The below information is for the Fall 2023 season:

REGISTRATION:
Registration IS OPEN NOW!!  Registration ends August 3rd.  We will not guarantee/honor coach and teammate assignment requests, except where a coach has their child on the team.

RATES:

Registration Price: $125
There will be no registrations accepted after August 3rd!

$10 discount for second child and additional.

If your child is just beginning with softball/baseball, has never played nor had skills/game instruction previously, and is of appropriate age (3-4 y/o) then sign up for T-Ball under the Baseball Fall Ball Category.

If your child desires to play in a division other than designated by the age chart, you must submit a formal request to [email protected]

AGE DIVISIONS:  

LOCATIONS:
Practices and games are at the Mt. Comfort Elementary School fields and Fortville Memorial Park. In addition, games will also be played at Greenfield (for some age groups).  Typically, younger aged children (such as 7 y/o and lower) may have games & practices scheduled for Fortville Memorial Park/Hampton Fields, but this could change. We are currently in talks with other organizations to play games at different locations.  I will update this section if any changes are made. 

PLAYER SKILLS EVALUATION: 

There will not be evaluations for Fall Baseball

HEAD COACHES AND TEAM SELECTION MEETING: 

Meeting will take place Tuesday August 8th at 6:30pm.  We will have a meeting with all coaches and commissioners, then the Mt Vernon Optimist Team Selection Draft will take place after the meeting.

Any coach, head or assistant, MUST be present to draft players. Children are not allowed at coaches' meeting. 

UNIFORMS:

EQUIPMENT:

NEW BASEBALL BAT STANDARDS.

The Mt Vernon Optimist baseball league is not sanctioned by any of these leagues but we
operate very closely to their rules and regulations so we have decided to implement this new
standard on a gradual scale starting on January 1, 2021. For the 2023 season in the spring and
the fall all players in the Rookie (7 and 8 year olds), Minor (9 and 10 year olds), Major (11 and
12 year olds), Babe Ruth (13 and over) must have bats approved by the new USA Baseball bat
standard. 

Your player will need their own:
(To see examples click on the links below)
Cleats - NO METAL SPIKES (until Babe Ruth Age). High top baseball cleats are best.  Soccer cleats will not work.
Batting Helmet
Fielding Glove - Size to hand. Don't go crazy on a glove for younger players. They will grow out of it. 11.5 inch kids glove is a great starter for Pee Wee and smaller Rookie players. Nothing smaller than that!! Tee ball gloves will be no help to your player, unless they are in Tee Ball. It may be hard to use at first. Glove oil will soften it up. Even the smallest hands can use a well broken glove.  I recommend 12.5 inch kids glove for bigger 8U players & 10U players.  I recommend stepping up to a larger inch glove for Major and Babe Ruth players.  Just a heads up, first base gloves and catchers gloves can only be used in that position.

Bat - A bat IS NOT required. Coaches will have a team bat to use. It's recommended your player have their own only because it's hard for coaches to fit every player with a team bat. If you decide to purchase a bat and have questions about how to fit them to your player, do not hesitate to reach out to me!  All new BAT RULES are listed above this section.

PRACTICES:
Practice begins the week of AUGUST 7th.  You should receive an email from your team coaching staff regarding the practice schedule.  Practice schedules are not posted on the MVOC website. Practices before the game schedule begins are at least once, maybe twice per week at coach's discretion and once a week practices will continue through the season at Mt. Comfort Elementary. 

TEAM PHOTOGRAPHS:
We do not do team photos for Fall Ball Season.

GAME SCHEDULE:
Opening Day of Fall is August 26th.  Final regular season game is October 7th.  Game schedules will be provided to the coaches to distribute to their teams.

No games Labor Day Weekend.

10-12 game schedule. 

Make up games will be scheduled throughout the week.

Closing Games will be Saturday October 7th.
There will not be a league tournament for fall ball.

IN SEASON PREGAME FIELD PREP:  
The designated home team is responsible for lining the fields before the game, away team for raking after the game.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
There will not be a tournament for the Fall Baseball Season.

Mt. Vernon Optimist Club seeks new members to administer and operate our baseball, softball, and basketball programs as well as academic programs such as written essay/Oratorical contests and administrative positions.  If Optimist membership is not possible, your assistance with operations such as field preparation and concessions is appreciated.  Volunteering can occur during player website registration on mvoptimist.com if the person is a member of the parent/guardian's website account.  Special website procedures for a volunteer to sign up after the player's registration is completed, or if the volunteer has a separate website user account than that used to register a player.  Please contact us at [email protected] for special volunteer sign-up.

WEATHER LINE:  Baseball Weather Line is 317-335-4123

The baseball weather line is used to communicate the cancellation of practice or games in the event of bad weather.  We encourage every parent to use this weather line rather than texting, calling or emailing the head coach of your team.

HOLIDAYS:

Spring season:  No activities Memorial Day weekend.

Fall season: No activities Labor Day weekend.

Questions or concerns?  Please send an email to us at [email protected]