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West Hartford Little League

Our Seasons

West Hartford Little League offers great options for every season.

Spring

Registration for Spring opens on December 1st.

Our Divisions

Rookie/Tee-Ball

Often, a family’s first introduction to Little League® is in the Tee Ball program. Tee Ball is the entry level division for boys and girls, ages 4 & 5. The experience is grounded in fun, fitness, and fundamentals while also being a key to growing a child’s love for the game. This division will focus on teaching the very basic fundamentals of baseball, such as proper swing mechanics and proper throwing technique using only the safest and most appropriate equipment for this age group. The teams will meet once per week on Sunday afternoons and the sessions will be split into part practice and part game. This will be a non-competitive atmosphere with the focus on teaching and having fun for both players and coaches. There will be no game standings and there will be no playoffs. WHLL makes special provisions in the Rookie Division for buddy requests and so that your child has the chance to play with other classmates from his/her elementary school.

Cost for 2024 was $100.

Instructional/Coach-Pitch

This division is for boys and girls, ages 6 & 7. All players will be encouraged to swing the bat with a coach pitching the ball. This division will continue to teach the fundamentals of the game while learning more of the "rules of the game" in an effort to become more well-rounded and "smart" players. Teams will meet twice per week with a weekday or Saturday practice and games scheduled for Sundays. Before games start, there will be two practices per week. There will be no regular season standings and no playoffs for this division. NOTE: As of 2010 rule updates, there will be no batting tees allowed during Instructional games. WHLL makes special provisions in the Instructional Division for buddy requests and so that your child has the chance to play with other classmates from his/her elementary school. There are no coach requests.

Cost for 2024 was $125.


Minor League

This division is for boys and girls, ages 8, 9 and 10. It is designed to teach the finer skills of the game of baseball and to further develop individual skills including pitching, catching and the outfield. This is a player-pitch league. The focus will shift to more real game situations in this division in preparation for the jump to AAA. The diamond used is a 60-foot diamond and the pitching distance is 42 feet. Teams may meet up to three times per week with weekday and Saturday practices. Once the season begins, there will be games every Sunday and mid-way through the season, games will be played on weeknights as well. Saturday practices will continue until the end of the season. There is a playoff tournament for all teams at the end of the regular season.

Cost for 2024 was $150.



AAA League

This division is for boys and girls, ages 9*, 10 and 11. It is designed to teach more advanced skills as a final step in preparation for movement up into the Major League Division. Skills developed here will be beyond those found in Minors. The focus will shift to more advanced and competitive game situations in this division with advanced concentration on specialty positions like pitching and catching. The diamond used is a 60-foot diamond and the pitching distance is 46 feet. Teams will meet up to three times per week with weekday and Saturday practices. Once the season begins, there will be games every Sunday and mid-way through the season, games will be played on weeknights as well. Saturday practices will continue until the end of the season. There is a playoff tournament for all teams at the end of the regular season.

Cost for 2024 was $150.



Major League

This division is for boys and girls, ages 10*, 11 and 12 and is our most competitive division. There will be regular season standings and a playoff tournament at the end of the season. The focus will be to continue to develop individual skills and teach the more complex aspects of the game in a more competitive atmosphere. The diamond used is a 60-foot diamond and the pitching distance is 46 feet. Teams will meet up to three times per week with practices being scheduled for a weeknight and on Saturdays. Once the season starts there will be games every Sunday and on weeknights throughout the season. Saturday practices will continue until the end of the season.

Cost for 2024 was $150.

Practices

Practices are the last piece to pulling every season together. Practices are established by a lottery system for Instructional, Minors, AAA and Majors. The lottery occurs at the final coaches meeting before the season starts. Within 48 hours of this meeting, parents are notified of their teams and coaches. Practice schedules are literally the final step before season kick-off. By virtue of our lottery system, WHLL is unable to take special requests in advance for specific practice times and days. WHLL also does not allow for team/roster changes due to practice conflicts after practice schedules have been established and distributed to your designated team. Once a practice time has been set for a team, that time is firm and no changes will be allowed. 

The West Hartford Little League remains committed to not regularly scheduling any games or practices on Fridays and to not regularly schedule any games for Saturdays. Because of the growth of the league and the lack of available fields, it is necessary to schedule practices on Saturdays. We realize that this may present a conflict for some players due to religious obligations. No player will be penalized in any way if they cannot attend Saturday practices. We totally understand, respect and support a family’s obligations that would prevent a player from attending Saturday practices.

Player Evaluation Session

* All players ages 8–12 must attend our player evaluation session to be held in mid-March. All players will be evaluated at this time so that we can distribute the players amongst the teams as fairly as possible. We may invite a number of 9-year olds to play up into the AAA Division and a number of 10-year olds to play up into the Majors Division. The number of players invited to play up will be based solely upon the number of open slots available in those divisions and the abilities of the players based on the evaluation at the group session. The final decision as to whether or not those players who are chosen to play up will be the parents and players alone. You may decline any invitation to play up if you so wish. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will 9 year old players be asked to play in the Majors Division. Majors are STRICTLY limited to 10, 11 and 12-year old players.


Summer

West Hartford Little League (WHLL) offers several options to those players interested in continuing play into the summer season in a competitive environment. The league fields teams for both Little League District play and travel baseball. For the 10U through 12U
teams, we hold tryouts during the Spring season. Rosters are selected and announced in late May.

Our summer teams participate in both a regular-season summer league / district play and local tournaments including the Lindquist Tournament (operated by Farmington Youth Baseball) and the Nutmeg State Games (run by the town of New Britain).

Registration typically opens in May. Costs for 2024 ranged from $150 to $300, depending on team & level of play.

Little League District Baseball

West Hartford Little League competes in the highly competitive Connecticut District 7, which includes other local towns. We often field teams at the following ages:

  • 12U District All-Stars
  • 11U District All-Stars
  • 10U District All-Stars

District baseball is the highest level of competition that West Hartford Little League participates in.  These are our league's All-Star teams and they compete against All-Star teams from other local Little Leagues.

Our league has traditionally been very competitive in District play and we have won ten titles (8x district, 1x division and 1x section).  When District teams are eliminated from the District or State Tournament, they will typically continue to play friendly games against other towns, or they may enter one or two tournaments.  

District baseball is for our league's most advanced and committed players at our older age levels.  The time commitment can be as much as 5 to 6 days per week following our spring season and continuing until the end of July.  Given the high level of commitment, district players and their families typically do not take vacations or attend overnight camps during this time.

At this level of baseball, our players will start to become more focused on playing a limited number of positions, unlike our spring season when players move around to many different positions.  Tournament rules establish a continuous batting order, but there is no guaranteed playing time in the field.  District Baseball is highly competitive and defensive playing time does not follow a “Fair Ball” philosophy.  We anticipate the district teams playing until the end of July. 

Travel Baseball

West Hartford Little League competes in the Central Connecticut Summer Baseball League and often fields teams at the following ages:

  • 12U Travel
  • 10U Travel
  • 8U Travel

Travel baseball is another exciting and fun option for many of our players.  As with district play, our travel teams compete against local towns.  Our travel teams will have some home games, but will often travel to other towns for games or tournaments.  In previous years, our older, more advanced travel teams participated in tournaments in late June and July, and played approximately 15 to 20 games (or more!) during the summer season.  Travel baseball is also a significant time commitment, which may range from 4 to 6 days per week for the 11 and 12 year-olds.  For the 7 and 8 year olds, the time commitment is lower and is typically 3 to 4 days per week.  Travel baseball may offer a bit more flexibility than district baseball for players who will be taking vacations or attending overnight camps in June or July.


Summer Baseball Participation

EligibilityONLY players who participated in the Spring season are eligible for summer baseball. For those players who have other activities ongoing that limit their participation for their spring season team (e.g. other sports leagues or activities outside of WHLL), that player must participate in at least 60% of their team’s games during the Spring season to be eligible for summer participation.

Selection process & team formation: Selection to 12U and 11U District All-Star teams is based on a tryout and coach voting. Selection to 10U All-Star and Travel teams is based on a tryout and input from coaches from both Majors and AAA.  We typically do not hold a tryout for 8U travel and try to find a spot for all interested players, depending on the number of registrants.

Playing time: Our league prides itself on our Fair Ball philosophy, including equal playing time, during the spring and fall seasons.  The rules for District (all-star) baseball are very different.  When teams are competing in District play, playing time is typically NOT equally distributed.  For our District teams, if and when they are eliminated from either the District or State tournament, they will likely continue their season playing in friendly games against other local towns or in other tournaments.  When this occurs, the playing time typically becomes more balanced for all of the players.  Our travel teams typically balance the playing time more equitably throughout the summer season as the playing rules are different for travel baseball.

For additional information on summer baseball, please email  [email protected].

Fall

West Hartford Little League offers three age divisions for our Fall season: 8U, 10U and 12U.

8U: The diamond used is a 60-foot diamond and the pitching distance is 42 feet.

10U and 12U: The diamond used is a 60-foot diamond and the pitching distance is 46 feet.

We are members of the Greater Hartford Fall Baseball League and play several surrounding towns in Hartford County. Games are held on Saturday and Sundays starting in early September and run through mid-October. A randomly seeded playoff follows for each division.

Practices begin in mid-August and there is typically one practice per week. The 12U division may hold an additional practice and/or batting cage session during the week.

Registration typically opens in July. Cost for 2024 was $175.

Winter

We typically offer two off-season winter clinics (aka "Blizzard Ball") during the Dec-Jan and Jan-Feb timeframe. These clinics are one-hour sessions during a mid-week evening for four or five weeks. We focus on hitting and fielding in an indoor setting.

Registration typically opens around November 1st.

Contact Us

West Hartford Little League

1700 Asylum Ave 
West Hartford, Connecticut 06117

Email: [email protected]

West Hartford Little League

1700 Asylum Ave 
West Hartford, Connecticut 06117

Email: [email protected]
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