The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG & DAYTON — On December 27, Abby Grende, an advocate for Waitsburg Little League parents, met with Snake River Little League (SRLL) President Jessica Ruffcorn and Little League District Representative Brennan Moore to discuss a potential contract for 2024. The three-year contract, approved at the Waitsburg City Council meeting on December 20, allows SRLL to use the Waitsburg Fairgrounds ballfields beginning with the 2024 Little League season.

Grende said the terms of the agreement were discussed, and Ruffcorn agreed to bring it to the SRLL board.

Grende became involved and helped draft the new contract with the city after the SRLL Board, based in Dayton, disqualified the Waitsburg facilities at its November 30, 2023, meeting, citing poor field conditions and the lack of a negotiated contract with the City of Waitsburg.

During the meeting, Grende said Ruffcorn and Moore encouraged Waitsburg's parents to focus efforts this year on forming its league for the 2025 season.

For this season, should the SRLl Board accept the new contract, Waitsburg Little League players could hold practice on their home field. However, League games, besides T-Ball, will only be played on Dayton or Prescott fields this season. Waitsburg’s T-Ball games will continue to be played at the city’s elementary school playfield.

As presented at the meeting, the contract stipulates that Waitsburg league families and volunteers must improve field conditions before season practices begin in April. Grende said volunteers have already held two field workdays on January 6 and 7, and additional days are planned for February and March. These workdays are not under SRLL; the City of Waitsburg has permitted the parents to work on the fields.

The challenge will be registering players to field Waitsburg’s teams for the 2024 season.

“If we don’t have enough Waitsburg kids registered, parents will be notified,” said Grende.

Parents of Waitsburg little leaguers who wish to play this year could join Dayton or Prescott teams.

“If they can’t work out travel to Dayton or Prescott for practices, they can withdraw and get refunded. They just need to do this before tryouts.” Grende said parents must contact Jessica Ruffcorn about a refund before March 20.

SRLL will hold tryouts on March 23 for ages eight and up. The tryouts will determine which division the young athletes will play under preset age ranges.

“Jessica and Brennan are both pushing for us to form our own league,” said Grende. “I’ve brought that up to the parents in an email update to see what their thoughts are on doing that.”

She also said Waitsburg parents and volunteers will begin visiting local businesses to seek funding for field maintenance and possibly forming a Waitsburg league for 2025. For more information about donating funds for ballfield improvement and maintenance, send an email to abbysot@hotmail.com or call 701-269-1133.

Editors Correction: The original article “Waitsburg contract approved by Snake River Little League” misstated in the headline that a contract between the City of Waitsburg and SRLL had been approved. As stated in the article, “The agreement was accepted by Ruffcorn, acting on behalf of the SRLL board.

Grende and Ruffcorn contacted The Times to clarify that a contract has not been approved, as that must be done by the SRLL Board. Ruffcorn accepted the contract to present to the board at its regular meeting on Thursday, January 11, 2023.