League Age & Divisions

How does your player’s age affect the division they’ll be in? It’s a key way to identify the starting point for players in the league.

It’s not always the only factor, though – you can see that there’s some overlap in the groups below. Players who want to play in AAA and above will need to attend an assessment. One or more are offered before every season begins.

SMLL has established the following age groups:

Baseball

A player’s “league age” for baseball is the age they will be by the end of August 31 in the current season’s year.

Division Age Range
TeeBall 4-5 years old
Minors/Coach Pitch 5-6 years old
Minors/Player Pitch 7-8 years old
AAA 8-10 years old
Majors 10-12 years old
50/70 11-13 years old
Challenger 4-18

Softball

A player’s “league age” for softball is the age they were at the end of the year preceding the season. In other words, how old were they last Dec 31?

At SMLL, we use age-based divisions to align with non-Little League fastpitch youth leagues:

Division Age Range
8U / Coach & Player Pitch 5-8
10U / AAA 9-10
12U / Majors 11-12
14U / Juniors 13-14
16U / Seniors 15-16

League Age

We use the league age to fit players into the categories above. Note that the formula for baseball and softball is different.

See the Little League age calculator for more information.

Please Note: Only players age 8 and above must attend a player assessment

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