MORAVIA - The professionals are already well into spring training, but for young players across the county, the baseball season is just getting started.

For more than 50 years in Moravia, that has meant gearing up youth league baseball.

“We started as Moravia Little League,” league president Gary Mulvaney said. “And then along the way we became youth league, which covers a lot of different sports, all with their own leadership in Moravia.”

For nearly 20 years, Mulvaney has been a part of the league, getting his start as a coach.

“I got into it at first with my nephews,” Mulvaney said. “And then when my kids turned old enough to play I coached them all the way through Babe Ruth. It is great to see the kids as they grow and learn how to play the game.”

For the past 15 years, Mulvaney has served as an officer of the league, ultimately taking on the role of president.

“I#,d coached with my own kids for a long time,” Mulvaney said. “And I thought I should stay involved with things a little more behind the scenes, I guess, and try to help out the league where I could.”

The Moravia Youth League has something for kids of all ages, starting right with the youngest players at age six.

“We do T-Ball for boys and girls at that age,” Mulvaney said, “it gives them a good chance to get started and learn the fundamentals of the game.”

At this level, Mulvaney said that the focus is on getting all the kids involved.

“Everyone gets to bat and play the field,” Mulvaney said. “No one sits on the bench. There are no strikeouts. We try to get all the kids involved and let them play as much as they want and get a feel for the game and a lot of them are ready right at six to play the game.”

From there the league progresses to 7- through 9-year-olds.

“It is like Pony League ball,” Mulvaney said. “We use a pitching machine instead of letting them pitch to each other, but other than that it is pretty much the same.”

From age 10 on, the boys and the girls split into two separate divisions, with the boys going on to play youth baseball and the girls going to travel softball, which has been growing.

“We are getting more girls involved, which is great to see,” Mulvaney said. “It is a little bit of a change for the girls. They are going from using a baseball to a softball, but we get a really good turnout. We usually have 30 or 40 girls and can field a couple of really solid teams and it gives the girls a good preparation for playing in middle and high school.”

The girls also get to do a bit of traveling, playing teams across the Southern Cayuga area.

“I think it is a really good experience for the girls,” Mulvaney said. “They get to meet other girls and play different teams and get used to playing different people.”

In the boys#, program, Mulvaney said there is such a great interest that there are enough teams to keep it strong and competitive among the players just from Moravia.

Mulvaney said that for both the boys and the girls programs, often players are there from the time they are getting their start all the way to the launch of their school careers.

“By the time they get to school a lot of kids have been playing for 10 years,” Mulvaney said. “They have all that experience as players and it is a big help to them when they get to that point.”

Mulvaney said that there is a strong passion for the game in Moravia, one that has driven a large turnout already.

“Our first day of sign-ups was when we had the big snow and ice storm,” Mulvaney said. “And even then we had people calling to sign up even with the roads closed. There is a strong tradition of baseball here in Moravia.”

This is a tradition that is supported by parents and volunteers throughout the community.

“We get a lot of support,” Mulvaney said. “We get a lot of parents who volunteer to coach and help out with concessions and everything we do that helps keep us going.”

So far Mulvaney said that there are nearly 175 kids signed up across the program.

“We have a really good turnout this year,” Mulvaney said. “I think we are going to have a really good season.”

While officially registration is supposed to end this weekend, Mulvaney said that he likes to keep it open to give kids that might not have heard about the league, the chance to get involved.

“We want everybody that wants to play to have the chance,” Mulvaney said. “So I leave registration open for an extra week or so just in case anyone missed it or anything they still have a little time to get involved.”

With just over a week left in March, Mulvaney said the next step is to hold a draft and get the kids on teams and ready to play ball.

“It is just like the big leagues,” Mulvaney said. “From there we get the kids and the coaches together to start practicing for a few weeks and then we are ready to start the season.”

For more information on the league contact Gary Mulvaney at 497-0321