St Matthews Baseball

Please support our community ministry by bringing in some items for their pantry. Thank you, SMB families!

⚾⚾It's St. MAM Week At The Ballpark thanks to St. Matthews Baseball! ⚾⚾

Our staff and volunteers will have a tent near the basketball courts all week — and to support our work, SMB families are being encouraged to bring some of the following much-need items for their pantry:

💙Shampoo 💙Bar Soap 💙 Deodorant 💙Toothpaste, and 💙Liquid Dish Soap

In addition to collecting these items, we will...

✔Have fun games and activities for kids and adults! (with great prizes)

✔Connect with teens who are interested in volunteering (hello, service hours!), and

✔Share info about our two fantastic summer fundraising events on June 8: The 12th annual St. MAM Golf Classic and Inaugural St. MAM Pool Party.

For fifty-four years, St. MAM has been compassionately serving area residents in need — with a robust food and hygiene pantry, emergency financial services to keep people housed with utilities, and essential material support for infants and seniors.

And, now, we are helping support St. Matthews Baseball. In addition to sponsoring this season, we will be making baseball more accessible to all by offering scholarships for the fall season.

Baseball families, if you can't make it to the park, you can still learn all about us, our partnership, and our upcoming events at www.stmam.com.

Thank you, St. Matthews Baseball, for partnering with us!

We are loving having St. Matthews Area Ministries (St. MAM) at the park!

Coaches,

I would like to announce the return of our free Coaches Clinic on January 25th from 3:00 - 5:00! It is open to all past or present St Matthews Baseball coaches. We will be hosting this at the St Matthews Community Center (at the front of the ballpark).

Our league relies on volunteers and we want to support them however we can. We are focused on developing great coaches at St. Matthews Baseball. We are lucky enough to have partnerships with area baseball professionals and dedicated Board members willing to donate their time to facilitate this. Trinity Head Coach, Rick Arnold, Bellarmine University Head Coach, Ben Reel (and staff), and IUSE Head Coach, Vincent Tornincasa will be speaking. Please try to RSVP ([email protected]). Here is the schedule:

3:00 - 3:40 - Offensive Skills Coaching Strategies

3:40 - 4:20 - Defensive Skills Coaching Strategies

4:20 - 5:00 - Pitching Skills Coaching Strategies

Parents, Players and Coaches, It's already time to register for baseball again! Registration for the Spring 2026 St. Matthews Baseball season opens next Sunday, December 14, 2025 at 8:00 a.m.! And with it, I want to provide some important updates, news, and information.

Registration

- Registration will be entirely online. There will be no walk-in sign ups. On Sunday 12/14 at 8:00am the registration goes live on our website which you can access here. Simply sign in to your existing account, or create a new one and register your son or daughter (or more) for the upcoming 2026 season. If you are new to St. Matthews Baseball, create a parent account for yourself first, and then register your child or children as participants.

- If you are interested in coaching, as you go thru the registration process for your child there is an option to volunteer as a head or an assistant coach. The more volunteers the better! We cannot do this without your help!

Team Placement and Try-Out's

In the Tee (4/5 combined), 6u Machine/Tee (6), 7u Machine Pitch (7), and 8u Machine Pitch (8) divisions, there will not be tryouts. Teams in these divisions are constructed based on coach and/or teammate requests. Once teams are formed you will hear from your coach/team mid-March. Please remain patient as it takes some time getting the various coach and teammate requests sorted in these age groups, but you will be contacted! When you register there is a section in which to put a teammate or coach request. Please be as specific as possible, otherwise we will assume your son or daughter can be placed on the first available team. First and last names please.

Minors (9/10) and Majors (11/12) tryouts will likely be held the first week of March. Exact dates, times and locations will be sent to you once confirmed. Once tryouts and drafts are complete, you will hear from your coach and team around mid-March.

Babe Ruth 13 - 16

We plan to open Babe Ruth registration toward the end of January. If you are interested in playing Babe Ruth baseball, please email me and our Babe Ruth commissioner Lee Greenamyer. [email protected]

Playing "Up" a Division

In the 4-7 age groups, we will accommodate requests to move a player "up" a division if his/her parent or guardian so desires. You will simply need to complete the player's registration for the age group the system automatically puts them in based on the 2024 Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken Age Chart, and then send an email requesting the move. We will then manually move your player to the next division. (Ex. When you register, the online system tells you Johnny is only eligible to play Tee Ball (5 yr old), but you would like him to play in the Coach Pitch (6 yr old) division. Register Johnny for Tee Ball (5 yr olds), then email us to request a move up to the Coach Pitch (6 yr old) division and we will manually make the move). PLEASE make sure that the teammate and/or coach you are requesting to play with, however, is in the division you are moving "up" to. Otherwise, we will place your player on the first available team.

In the 8 Machine, 9/10 Minors and 11/12 Majors age groups, we will assess such moves on a case by case basis taking into consideration experience, birth date, or other factors. This is to ensure a move into an older division does not create a health or safety risk to your child by being placed in a division he or she may not be ready for. The process is the same though. Register in the age group the system has designated, and then contact me via email to discuss the request.

For your reference, click here for a link to the 2025 Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken Age Chart.

Game and Practice Schedules

Once teams are formed, your coach will give you a schedule of practices and let you know additional details about the league schedule. Games are expected to start the week of April 13, 2026. There are usually one to two games per week, most are played on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and/or some Friday/Saturday’s. Each team may play a couple of Friday/Saturday games, it just depends on how many teams we have in each division. Tee Ball and 6u may play games on any day of the week.

The final schedule will be released once completed, which is usually a week or two before games begin.

The regular season will run 8 weeks, followed by an in-house post season tournament for our older 7-12 divisions. This will likely be held the week of June 8 through June 15, although many divisions could complete their tournament prior to June 15. Again, it simply depends on the number of teams in each division.

Equipment Needed

Each child must supply their own glove and bat, and in the 7-12 year olds own batting helmet as well. The league will provide a jersey and ball cap. If your child catches, we encourage you to have them bring their own catcher's gear too for the 7-12 year old divisions. We do have some older catcher gear for handing out, but having their own on hand is definitely ideal. There is no catcher in Tee Ball or 6u.

That's it for now! And as always, please refer to our website or page for up-to-date information. If you have additional questions, please also review our website as there is a wealth of information under our FAQ's, Announcements, and other sections.

Sponsorships

Sponsorship Packet

St. Matthews baseball is a nonprofit organization that exists and provides baseball to our youth through the generous donations of our sponsors. We could not do this without their help! If you would like to become a sponsor – and we hope you do! – please review the attached sponsorship form, and email me directly. [email protected]

From everyone here at St. Matthews Baseball, we look forward to another great season, and wish you all Happy Holidays!

Registration is now open for Trinity Baseball Christmas Camps. Register @ https://www.trinitybaseball.org

A huge thank you to the Bellarmine University Baseball Team for spending the day with us and giving back to our community! ⚾️❤️

Your hard work on our fields means the world to our players, families, and volunteers. Because of your effort, our little leaguers get to play on some of the best fields in town — and see firsthand what teamwork and community spirit look like in action.

We’re proud to have such great role models right here in our city. Go Knights! 🔔💪

Congratulations to St Matt alum Will Smith on a World Series Championship!