The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WALLA WALLA - Babe Ruth baseball is back and for the first time, Waitsburg and Prescott athletes have a dedicated team in the developmental summer league.

Walla Walla Transmission is the sponsor and name for the team. The kids from Waitsburg and Prescott, aged 13-16, are playing in a league of eight teams from Walla Walla, Milton-Freewater, Weston- McEwen and the Touchet Valley.

The program has started up again in Waitsburg and Prescott for two reasons, team coach Dustin Snedigar said.

"There was a lot of interest from the players to start a summer league team and we need to be developing our players for them to be better in high school ball," he said.

" We probably didn't achieve all that we wanted in high school ball this year. But what all the good programs around the state do is play as much baseball as they can. So that is what we are starting to do, play more baseball and build a good program that everyone can be proud of."

The high school team made it into the first round of the district playoffs only to lose to Liberty Christian.

The Waitsburg-Prescott Babe Ruth players started the season on a winning note, beating a team from Milton-Freewater and Walla Walla.

Lately, they have gone on a losing streak.

Of six past losses, five have been one- run ball games.

" We're almost to the halfway point of the season and we've been competitive," Snedigar said. "We've been a part of a lot of good games this summer so far."

WW Transmission player Tucker Alleman said he and his fellow players welcome the exposure.

"It is nice to be playing summer ball," he said. "I like our program and the fact that we've brought in summer ball. We need it. We have a younger team and we will get better.

"The more time we get playing together, the better we'll be going into the high school season."

At the age of 15, Alleman plays catcher on the Babe Ruth team and pitches. He played the same positions on the JV high school team this past year and got some experience playing the outfi eld on the Varsity team.

Teammate Nick Pearson, who also played on the 2011 junior varsity high school baseball team, agreed. "It is really beneficial getting the opportunity to play summer baseball," Pearson said, "with more at-bats and innings on the field. It is really productive.

"Coach Snedigar teaches us a lot of fundamentals and pushes us hard to stay in shape. He is also big on character and doing things right on the baseball field."

Pearson plays third base, second base, pitcher and first on the WW Transmissions team.

Snedigar said that summer ball is a good opportunity to play all positions, learn about them and develop skills for the future.

WW Transmission has 12 players on the roster.

The pitching staff is comprised of Trey Potts, Alleman, Chance Leroue, Pearson, Chad Pearson, Dalton Estes, Luke Alexenko, Alex Breland and Devin Acevedo.

Summer ball teams need all the pitching they can get, with several games scheduled per week.

The other three position players are Trenton Kitselman, Jordan Smith and Nate Bartlow.

The team plays a sched- ule of 20 total games and 11 of the 12 players on the team will play high school ball again next year.

Waitsburg has a little league team comprised of 11 to 12 year olds playing this summer.

The idea in W-P is to build a program where the kids are playing a lot of baseball and buying into what they are learning, organizers said.

Summer baseball will help the kids make the jump from junior high ball to high school ball.

In high school, the bases are further apart and the pitching mound is further away. The fields are also bigger.

At the end of the summer league Babe Ruth, there will be a tournament June 25-29 for all of the teams to determine a champion. The first round and semi-final games will be played at Tietan Park. The final game will be played at Borleske Stadium.

After the champion is crowned, the hope is that they will have an all-star team with a couple of representatives from each team.

The all-star team would travel to play in tournament with against all-star teams.

For more information and a schedule of the remaining Babe Ruth regular season games, visit www.home.wallawallavalleybaberuth.com.