Erin Wilson, President of what is now the Magnolia Baseball Association, said the decision was based on a significant loss of players in the past few years and a desire to increase the level of play.

“We want to improve the level of baseball and take it to the high schools so we have quality players going into high school and just bring it back to the community,” she said.

In the past three years, the club lost 300 players, said Wilson. In 2008, there were 850 kids playing with the league. In the 2010 season, there were around 550.

“Not all have left to play select ball, about half of those kids left to play select ball,” said Wilson. “They’re playing elsewhere — Spring-Klein, Cy-Fair, Baseball USA — and we want to bring those kids back to play in our community.”

The decision to change affiliations was made at a July 7 board meeting, after which Wilson said she wanted to wait to announce the outcome since there were still teams playing in tournaments.

“We’re not trying to take anything away, we’re just trying to make it better,” said Wilson. “Nothing against Little League, it’s a great organization, we just want something for our community that will grow with our children and make them better team players.”

Currently, The Magnolia Little League Baseball Association’s charter is on administrative hold, according to the association’s website.

Wilson said last week she had just found out the league was on administrative hold and hadn’t been notified of the status from Little League International.

“We did send a letter August 18 to dissolve Magnolia Little League Association and have started Magnolia Baseball Association under a Nations charter,” she said. “We are trying to get in touch with Little League about being on administrative hold. We haven’t had any contact or information about being on administrative hold.”

One advantage with the Nations organization is field size as the players grow older, Wilson said.

“With Nations, starting at age 9, field sizes increase each year as kids get bigger,” she said. “As they grow, the fields grow with them. It will allow their skill level to get bigger as the field gets bigger.”

With Little League, the field size stays the same until age 13, where it increases significantly, she said.

“Going to Nations allows us to have two levels of play; a metro level, basically the same as Little League and a select league.”

Despite the changes, Wilson said the overall functioning of the organization will stay the same.

“Nothing’s really changing except our governing body,” she said. “It’s the same kids, same coaches and same volunteers. It’s just a different sanction.”

For more information on Nations Baseball, visit www.nations-baseball.com.

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