Come to meetings that are held every second Sunday of the month except July. Meetings begin at 7 PM and are held at the Cranberry Municipal building during cold weather months. During the months of April through August they are held at the Cranberry Park. To see a list of the various committees, jobs, and other opportunities to help out please take a look at our volunteering page.
Ages for baseball are based on the National Little League guidelines. April 30 of the year the child participates is the cut off date to determine the age for the purpose of eligibility and placement in leagues. For example, if your child turns 9 before April then he will play in Minor League for that season.
In 2006 PONY Baseball, along with many of the other nation wide organizations, change the age cutoff from July 31 to April 30. At that time any baseball player who was a current member of the CTAA and had a birthday betwen between May 1 and July 31 was given the ONE TIME option of which age group they could participate in. The player could choose to continue with the age group that they were a current member of or move down to the age group that he would be a member of under the new PONY age guidelines.
As mentioned, this was a one time option. Players will continue in the age group that they participated in during the spring 2006 season. Any player joining the CTAA after that time will be governed by the age policy in effect at the time of thei registration.
In softball the Association follows the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) guidelines. These state that January 1 of the year child participates as the cutoff date for the purpose of eligibility and placement in leagues.
The only exception is for girls turning 7 years old in the year they play. In those cases July 31 is used as the cutoff date, which allows girls to go into powder puff without having to play 3 years of T-ball.
First time players will be asked for a birth certificate. If you participated as a member of the CTAA the previous Spring (Fall Ball does not apply) then you don't need to bring it again. You do not need to have a copy to leave with the league, if you bring one it will be checked at registration and returned to you. Remember, falsification of players ages or address are grounds for expulsion from the CTAA.
Starting in the year 2000, all Cranberry/Seven Fields residents who sign up during our walk in registration had to be placed on a roster prior to any new non-Cranberry/Seven Fields participants being registered. Any non-Cranberry/Seven Fields family who had a child in the organization prior to the 2000 season is grand fathered in and are treated as a Cranberry/Seven Fields resident as far as their rights as a CTAA member are concerned. If they happen to skip a year with the CTAA then they are treated as non-members again.
After all Cranberry/Seven Fields applicants are placed then any non-Cranberry/Seven Fields child can be placed if positions are still available in the league they are applying for. Non-Cranberry/Seven Fields players who apply during the walk in registration are told they can fill out a form, but no money is taken until all Cranberry/Seven Fields who came to walk in registration are placed. After the Cranberry/Seven Fields walk in registrants are registred in their leagues then the new non-Cranberry/Seven Fields walk in registrants are then called and told if space is available. At that point they can decide if they are still interested.
At this point late registration begins. Late registration is "first come, first serve", regardless of residence, and continues until all the leagues are filled.
Please note, these guidelines apply to Spring Baseball only, Fall Ball is open to everyone at this time.
The age guidelines set forth by the CTAA are as described above.
Children do have the opportunity to play up to an upper league as a call up. For example; if child is 10 years old they can have the opportunity to play up to the next level of league when a team from the upper league does not have enough players to field a team for any given game. This is true for any league where children are 8 years or older.
There are only 2 exceptions to this rule, both in softball. First, in fast pitch leagues, if after registration, there are not enough girls signed up in a particular age group, girls can be moved up from a lower age group in order to allow a team to be formed.
The other involves 8 year old girls moving from Farm to Junior Slow pitch. Because of the difference between the birthday cutoff for the two leagues it is possible for a girl to spend 3 years in Farm. Because this leads to a girl who is essentially 9 years old for the season, a girl can move from Farm to Junior as an 8 year old provided that she has played 2 seasons in the CTAA sponsored Farm league, participation in other associations does not qualify. The step between these two leagues is the only one where this adjustment will be made.
Practices start for most age groups during the last week of March. The older age groups may start later since their season usually starts later than the younger age groups. Powder Puff & T-Ball usually start practices in mid April. The season for most of the age groups starts around the end of April and runs to around the third weekend of June. In house leagues will then have a playoff season with championship games played on July 4th
T-Ball: Cranberry Park, Seven Fields, Haine School
Minor: Cranberry Park
Bronco: Cranberry Park, Rowan Elementary
Pony: Cranberry Park, Rowan Elementary
Farm: Haine School, Seven Fields, Cranberry Park
Colt/Legion: Home games at North Boundary Park or Rowan School, the rest at opposing team's field.
Senior Slow Pitch: Part of North Hills League. Home games at Cranberry Park, the rest at the opposing team's field
All other Slow Pitch: Cranberry Park, Rowan Elementary
Fast Pitch: Part of North Hills League. Home games at Cranberry Park or Rowan Elementary, rest at the opposing team's field
Fall ball is an opportunity for girls and boys ages 8 to 17 to play additional baseball and softball during the months of August, September and October. The main emphasis of fall ball is as an instructional league. Children are given the opportunity to play in the age group they will be moving to in the spring. Some travel is involved. Signups start in June.
Evaluations for all stars begin near the start of the regular season. You will be asked to fill out a form asking if you want your child to be evaluated for all stars. Teams are picked by June 1st and practices start at that time. The all-star season usually runs from just after July 4th to end of July or beginning of August.
In 2007 the CTAA membership voted to charge the membership an additional fee. That fee will be used to cover the cost of paying teen workers to comver shifts in the concession stand.
A teen must be part of a CTAA member family, and elligible to partcipate in either either the Major Softball or Pony Baseball leagues. Teens will be asked to complete an application and will be interviewed.
The CTAA is an independent youth sports organization that is run strictly by volunteers. There is no connection with the township as far as the day-to-day operations of the organization. All workers and managers in the concession stand as well as individuals who work on the fields are volunteers.