What happened to Little League Baseball in Reynoldsville?
Brian Mowrey of Sykesville provided a very simple answer as to why there is no longer an active Little League in Reynoldsville.
“We ran out of kids.”
Mowrey has been involved with Little League as a player, a coach and an umpire since 1983. He currently serves on the DuBois Little League board of directors.
To put things into perspective, Mowrey said that the Reyn-Sykes Little League had more than 350 players available in the early 2000’s. Two years ago, there were 62 boys and girls ages 4-12 available.
As he explained, Little League eligibility rules and boundaries changed over the years. Players could participate in baseball in the area in which they go to school, so Reynoldsville lost the older players first since they went to the DuBois Area Middle School.
Another problem was the dropping number of adults who were interested in coaching.
Reynoldsville area youth interested in playing baseball do have a couple of options. They can participate in the DuBois Little League program or they can play in the Sykesville Youth Baseball League. Sign-ups for both were held in February.
Mowrey said players from Reynoldsville do participate in DuBois, which provides, he feels, the best facilities in the state for youth baseball.
“The kids don’t even realize what they have [in DuBois],” he said.
The Sykesville Youth Baseball League provides a chance to play baseball against teams from Sykesville, Big Run, Luthersburg, and Mahaffey, and Mowrey had praise for that program as well.
As far as the baseball facility in Reynoldsville is concerned, Mowrey and others continue to maintain it, but it is an expensive proposition. He says there is still a need for it, and there has been some discussion to redesign it to make it more for adult leagues. The Sykesville Federation team uses it and there is talk about a possible travel team.
Times have changed and all baseball leagues have seen a drop in interest for various reasons, but the love for baseball is still there in many, so the efforts of Mowrey and others to provide opportunities to play will continue.
