Eason's Crossroads Ball Park Tryouts

One of Gates County's annual special activities is the Eason's Crossroads Ball Park league for local Gates County children. This night three of the seven divisions were having tryouts. There are divisions for Boys, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-16, Girls, 7-9, 10-12 and 13-16 and Co-Ed Tee Ball for age 4-6.




Parents and kids line up at the concessions stand to sign up and get numbers for the tryouts. Teams are selected from the players who sign up, and first time participants are "drafted" by the coaches of the various teams.




Players hang around waiting to get out on the field for the tryouts.




Bundy, League President, spent his time waiting for tryouts to start by warming up some of the players in the batting box.




Kelly, League Director, watched a few of the young players as they warmed up.




Rusty, League Vice President, was out on the field helping one of the age groups get organized for the tryouts.



First step was to get everyone assigned to a position on the field.




The focus of the first exercise was to get everyone ready to field the ball and throw it to first base.



Rusty would hit balls in rotation to all the players at their position.




After each player had gotten a turn at bat hitting a few balls, everyone lined up to learn to run the bases. In this exercise, each player would run down the first base line to first base, tag it and then turn out to jog back to the line for another turn.

It was a great night and the kids clearly had a wonderful time.

If you know of children in the area that are interested in summer league baseball, please call Kelly at (252) 465-2292, or Angie at (252) 465-4502 to get the children signed up. It is an American tradition.