Baseball WA to join Thorobred League in 2021

Over the next couple of weeks, Baseball WA will be announcing details of the Alternate Pathway Programs (A.P.P.) that will be implemented in 2020 and 2021.
 
The A.P.P. is our formal partnership with Pony League International and comes on the back of a number of years of work with Pony.

Most importantly, the A.P.P. is focused on providing a support program to Little League which will always be our priority participation competition and tournament pathway, Pony is not an alternative to Little League but rather Pony provides us with opportunities at older age divisions that Little League does not and provides additional opportunities for younger athletes who miss out on playing for their charter. Players will be ineligible to participate in any Pony activity until their Little League program for the season has been completed (ie by non selection or team elimination).

With Australia recognised by Pony as four separate regions, no national tournament is held. WA will field teams in Pony under the banner of AUSTRALIA WEST.

The second of these announcement comes in the form of Thorobred League. This is a pathway for athletes league aged 19 to 23 years old and therefore have become too old for any Little League charter program. This team will be selected out of a newly formed Thorobred League competition and players must fulfil the 50% games played in that division as required under the rules. Club presidents will be invited to attend a meeting shortly to discuss what the local Thorobred League will look like.

There is no Asia Pacific tournament for Thorobred. Our team will progress to a newly formed international event at the MLB Urban Youth Centre in Los Angeles.

Details around appointment of coaches, tryouts and costings will be rolled out in the coming months.

This is an exciting development for baseball in WA and provides a terrific enhancement to our existing Little League program.