Collegiate league offers up baseball
Baseball is finally coming back to Northwest Arkansas after a lengthy hiatus for most players.
The Perfect Timing College Baseball League will begin its five-week season Monday as area teams and some from the Tulsa area play at Tyson Park in Springdale.
“I can not wait,” said J.T. Baker, who owns Perfect Timing and is the owner of the summer collegiate league. “It’s going to be so much fun with these kids.
These players are comprised of all levels of baseball and throughout the regions, and we’re going to let them compete and play.
“For those players who were high school seniors, this is basically the start of their season because they didn’t get in many games. For those college players, a majority of them didn’t get in a lot of games. So I feel blessed to be able to provide them an opportunity to play.”
The league will have a little different look in its fifth season. It will consist of nine teams — six involving local players and three teams from the Tulsa area — and each team will carry about 20 players. The breakdown will be 12 position players and eight pitchers, although some position players could be called upon to pitch if necessary.
Hitters will use wooden bats during the seven-inning games, although a number of teams will go to Joplin, Mo., to play nine-inning games against teams from the Show-Me League. Each of the teams is scheduled to play 25 games — five games Monday through Thursday each week, with an occasional doubleheader, throughout the season — and the Tulsa teams will remain there when they are playing each other.
“We traditionally have just four teams and use the local players who are playing juco through [NCAA] Division II ball,” said Zach Bottoms, who serves as the league’s general managers and coaches a pair of the league’s teams. “But it fell into place where we had players that needed a place to play.
“It was slow going at first, but that was before travel started being cut off with the pandemic. We had these players that were coming home because of that, and it snowballed from there. We just couldn’t say no. These players were needing a place to play.”
While Baker and Bottoms have combined forces to take care of the rosters and the schedules, one question remains. Who will be there to watch the games?
Those details are still being worked out as the league’s season opener approaches.
Baker said the schedule was made where some games could be made up in July should there be rainouts in the early part o the season. He also said there is “a good possibility” of the league having some playoff games are the season is completed, but nothing is definite at the moment.