The main changes to be aware of are explained below. If anyone has any questions regarding these changes, please speak to your clubs Junior Coordinator or President as they have been provided more detail regarding these changes.
The Little League (Under 12) and Junior League (Under 14) divisions are based on charters. In Australia a charter is formed by grouping clubs in close proximity to one another to participate in a charter league competition. Each Charter League will be limited to a maximum of 10 Little League Major teams.
The Junior League Charter is based on the Little League Major Charter.
An example of a charter is below (please note this is only an example).
| CLUBS | NUMBER OF U12 TEAMS |
CHARTER | ||
 BONBEACH |
2 TEAMS
|
SOUTHERN MARINERS ALL STAR TEAM PARTICIPATES AT |
||
MOORABBIN |
|
|||
 SANDRINGHAM |
 3 TEAMS |
|||
|
|
|||
= 10 TEAMS |
SOUTHERN MARINERS
1 TEAM
4 TEAMS
Within this charter league, a minimum regular season competition must be played. Each league competition must provide for not less than twelve (12) games per team per regular season exclusive of finals.
Charter competitions in essence resemble the domestic competition that teams participated in on a Friday evening or Saturday Morning. These charter league competitions will replace the domestic competitions in the 2014/2015 season.
Clubs that have not participated in a domestic competition (not a Sunday competition) in the past, are now required to participate in a charter competition to be played on a Friday evening or Saturday morning for both the Little League and Junior League divisions.
For the 2014/2015 season, a Sunday morning competition will also be conducted that these players are eligible to participate in. This Sunday morning competition will resemble how the Sunday morning competition has been conducted in previous years, which is based on clubs entering a competition that involves all Melbourne Metropolitan (including Geelong and Ballarat) clubs.
If a player was just to play in a Sunday morning competition, the said player would not be eligible for selection in the Charter All Star Team. To be eligible a player must play a minimum of 60% of games played in the charter league regular season. (i.e. 12 games regular season = 7 games)
AGE MATRIX
Little League International currently has its age group cut-off as 1 May (not 31 December as per Baseball Victoria competitions).
Little League International recently voted to change its age cut-off period to 31 December, however this will take effect in 2018 (2017/18 season for Baseball Victoria).
All Australian Little League Championships will be run with the current Little League age brackets for all tournaments until it is changed internationally in 2018 (2017/18 in Australia).
Players need to participate in a regular season charter competition. Under our current age groups (U12 and U14), players that turn 13 after 1 May are still eligible to participate in the Little League Championships, but are not eligible to participate in our local competition based on our age cut-off of 31 December.
Baseball Victoria has decided to provide players born between 1 May – 31 December 2002 the opportunity to choose which division they would prefer to participate in being Little League Major or the Junior League competitions.
The players born between the above dates that decide to play in the Little League Major competition will be provided dispensation to participate in this competition.
The players that choose to play Junior League will no longer be eligible to participate in the Little League Charter All Star team in the State Championships, however they are eligible to trial for the Junior League All Star team.
Please also note that a player can only participate in one All Star team per year.
Please also note, Little League International rules states that a league/competition cannot force a player eligible in more than one division into a particular division. This choice must be made by the player and their family.
An Age Matrix for each division can be found below:
Little League Major (U12) Age Matrix – LL Charter and LL Club Competition
To be eligible to participate in a Little League Major competition, a player must attain the age of 9 years before 1 May and will not attain the age of 13 before 1 May of the year in question to be eligible.
| Match month (top line) and box with year of birth. Age indicated at right. | ||||||||||||
|
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
AGE |
|
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
9 |
|
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
10 |
|
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
11 |
|
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
12 |
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
AGE
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2006
2006
2006
2006
9
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2005
2005
2005
2005
10
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2004
2004
2004
2004
11
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2003
2003
2003
2003
12
Little League Major (U12) Age Matrix – State LL Championships
To be eligible to participate in a Little League State Championships, a player must attain the age of 11 years before 1 May and will not attain the age of 13 before 1 May of the year in question to be eligible.
| Match month (top line) and box with year of birth. Age indicated at right. | ||||||||||||
|
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
AGE |
|
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
11 |
|
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
12 |
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
AGE
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2004
2004
2004
2004
11
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2003
2003
2003
2003
12
Little League Minor (U12) Age Matrix
To be eligible to participate in a Little League Minor competition, a player must attain the age of 8 years before 1 May and will not attain the age of 13 before 1 May of the year in question to be eligible.
| Match month (top line) and box with year of birth. Age indicated at right. | ||||||||||||
|
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
AGE |
|
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2007 |
2007 |
2007 |
2007 |
8 |
|
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
2006 |
9 |
|
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
10 |
|
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
2004 |
11 |
|
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
12 |
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
AGE
2006
2006
2006
2006
2006
2006
2006
2006
2007
2007
2007
2007
8
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2005
2006
2006
2006
2006
9
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2004
2005
2005
2005
2005
10
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2003
2004
2004
2004
2004
11
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
2003
2003
2003
2003
12
Junior League (U14) Age Matrix
To be eligible to participate in a Junior League State Championships, a player must attain the age of 12 years before 1 May and will not attain the age of 15 before 1 May of the year in question to be eligible.
| Match month (top line) and box with year of birth. Age indicated at right. | ||||||||||||
|
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
AGE |
|
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
2003 |
12 |
|
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
2002 |
13 |
|
2000 |
2000 |
2000 |
2000 |
2000 |
2000 |
2000 |
2000 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
2001 |
14 |
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
AGE
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2002
2003
2003
2003
2003
12
2001
2001
2001
2001
2001
2001
2001
2001
2002
2002
2002
2002
13
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2000
2001
2001
2001
2001
14
Please note: Players eligible to play Under 16 in the 2014/20015 season (born 1 May -31 December 2000), and participate in the under 16 competition, will still be eligible to participate in the Junior League State Championships.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q. Why are we adopting Little League in Australia?
A. This concept provides many benefits for participants including:
1. increased participation in National Events;
2. community centred teams; and
3. early inclusion v early exclusion.
Q. Can a player play in two All Star Teams?
A. No. A player can only be selected in one All Star team.
Q. Can a player play in the Junior League Competition and still be eligible for Little League major All Star selection?
A. No. A player is not eligible if they participate in any Junior League Games.
Q. Do I need to speak to other clubs to form a charter?
A. No. Clubs just need to enter how many teams they will be entering into each division. The Little league Administrator will place all clubs into a charter based on team entries.
Q. How many games does a player have to play in the charter league regular season to be eligible for All Star Selection?
A. A player is required to play in 60% of the charter league regular season games.
Q. Does the minimum 12 games (per team) Charter League regular season include finals?
A. No. The regular season excludes finals.
Q. What happens to clubs who do not have Friday night competitions?
A. Clubs are now required to participate in a charter competition to be played on a Friday evening or Saturday morning for both the Little League and Junior League divisions. If a charter does not think that this is achievable, the Little League Administrator will work with the charter to find a suitable time to play the regular season.
Q. What about Sunday competitions?
A. There will continue to be a Sunday morning competition in 2014/2015. This will be called Little League Club Competition or Junior League Club Competition.
The structure of the competition will resemble how Sunday morning competitions have been conducted in previous years.
Q. What about females in junior baseball?
A. Little League is an inclusive program, females and males can play in the same competition and All Stars teams. An all female team can participate in a charter league competition.