Has any other Evergreen all-star team ever made the state tournament?

2014 Evergreen Cal Ripken 12-and-Under All-Stars

Hats off this week to Evergreen’s 12-and-Under Cal Ripken all-star baseball team, which will be representing Conecuh County this weekend at the state Cal Ripken tournament in Demopolis.

For good reason, much has been made during the past week or so over the fact that this team is the first team from Evergreen to play their way into the state tournament. Cal Ripken baseball in Evergreen traces its roots to April 15, 2011 when the first ever Cal Ripken Baseball Opening Day was held at Evergreen Municipal Park. Prior to this, children in Evergreen played Little League Baseball.

Since April 15, 2011, no all-star team from Conecuh County has advanced to the state tournament, which is what makes this year’s success so remarkable.

During the past week, I’ve had several people ask me if any team from Evergreen has ever made it to the state tournament, going back to even before Cal Ripken when local kids played Little League Baseball.

Honestly, I don’t know, but I’ve been told that a team during the mid to late 70s did go to the state tournament. As best that I can remember, I haven’t ran across any information about this team or any others while researching my weekly Sports Flashback feature, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.

In the future, I plan to keep my eyes open for any mention of this team or any others that may have made the state tournament. I’m also keeping my eyes open for articles about youth baseball in Conecuh County, which is somewhat of a local sports mystery.

When were the first youth baseball leagues established in Conecuh County? Who was responsible for establishing those leagues? Who were some of the first players? Who was the first girl to play youth baseball in Conecuh County? These are all questions that I’ve been trying to find the answers to for some time.

Organized youth baseball seems to have come to Conecuh County some time after World War II, and those youth leagues went by a variety of names, including the Junior League, Senior League, Pony League and others. Some of those old leagues were administered by the City of Evergreen and went by a wide variety of rules. Managers were sometimes even allowed to trade players and “buy” them from other teams.

The earliest reference to Little League Baseball that I’ve seen in old editions of The Courant was in 1955, but there’s a good chance that Little League Baseball and other youth baseball leagues were established even earlier than that in Conecuh County. Local kids played Little League through 2010, and, as mentioned above, in 2011 the local youth league shifted from Little League to Cal Ripken Youth Baseball, which is based in Baltimore, Md.

In the end, if anyone out there knows more details about the establishment of youth baseball, especially Little League Baseball, in Conecuh County or about any past state tournament teams from Conecuh County, let me hear from you. You can call me at The Courant at 578-1492 or e-mail me at courantsports@earthlink.net. You can also write me at The Evergreen Courant, ATTN: Lee Peacock, P.O. Box 440, Evergreen, AL 36401.