PSDS to host local travel baseball league

LEESBURG — Who says baseball is only a spring sport?

Not Peach State Diamond Sports.

The organization, which started hosting baseball travel events all over Georgia in 2003, will be hosting its second travel baseball league for area youth this fall.

“Sports has become so specialized that a lot of the (area) rec leagues don’t offer baseball in the fall because it’s so expensive,” said Tim Nichols, owner of Peach State Diamond Sports. “We give them a good environment to play baseball in. It give kids who don’t normally have a chance to play an opportunity to.”

The league features four age groups: 9-under Machine Pitch, 10-under Closed Base, 12-under and 14-under.

Nichols said the 9-under group is developmental and uses a machine to pitch the ball, while the 10-under group is instructional and does not allow the players to steal or lead off the base until the ball crosses the plate.

The two higher age levels have high school baseball rules and focus on competition.

“(We also) have these falls leagues to identify kids that don’t get to play a lot of travel baseball,” Nichols said. “As they get up to high school, they can get a chance to play on a 16-under team for me in the summer, which has worked out pretty well.”

Weather permitting, the league plans to have at least 10 games for each team.

Peach State Diamond Sports will still host weekend tournaments in the fall for people who don’t want to play in a league, but want to compete in that kind of atmosphere.

“We try to cater to everybody,” Nichols said.

For more information, contact Nichols at (229) 395-7130 or visit the Peach State Diamond Sports website at www.psdstournaments.com.