A Typical Season

The typical season for all Lightning Baseball teams includes five components:

  1. Fall Tryouts
  2. Fall Clinics
  3. Winter Workouts
  4. Regular Season & Regional Tournaments
  5. National Championship Tournament

Fall Tryouts

Lightning Baseball holds tryouts in August and September with 3-4 sessions each year. Our web site is updated in August each year with the dates, times and locations of each tryout. All new and returning players must attend at least one session but they may attend all tryout dates. No returning players are automatically on a roster, they must tryout for all roster spots.

Fall Clinics

The fall season consists of a hitting clinic, a pitching/throwing and catching clinic.

  1. The coaching staff of each team conducts the 2-day “Fundamentals of Hitting” clinic. This clinic is conducted in two sessions, on a Saturday and / or Sunday in November and is designed to provide each player with the basics mechanics of hitting which are used by all of our teams.
  2. The coaching staff of each team leads the 4-day “Fundamentals of Pitching, Throwing and Catching” clinic.
    This clinic is conducted in 1 – hour sessions for 4 consecutive dates in November.

Winter Program

Lightning Baseball’s winter program, is conducted at an indoor training facility. Our winter workouts are designed to build on the fundamentals learned in the Fall Clinics and to keep your body in baseball condition so we can hit the outdoor season in full stride.

  1. The Lightning program conducts a total of 8 program wide workouts during the winter, 2 per month from December through March. Sessions are conducted on Saturday or Sunday at an indoor training facility. Each session typically begins with a featured speaker usually a former player or local college coach.
  2. Some of teams also conduct additional workouts beginning in December and concluding in late March. The coaching staff uses these sessions to begin preparing the team for the move outdoors.

Regular Season 13u-14u

For our 13U-14U teams the regular season begins as soon as the fields become playable in the spring, usually the first weekend in April.

During the regular season Lightning Baseball, for 13U-14U is your #1 sports priority. You can play on other teams but our games and practices take priority (except for middle school or high school teams). You cannot pitch on another team without our permission. If you pitch for your school team you must tell us when you pitched last, how many innings and pitches you threw, and when your
coach plans to pitch you again. At ages 13U-14U you cannot play on your summer all-star team.

  1. A typical week during the regular season consists of one midweek outdoor practice, one midweek indoor practice and doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday.
  2. Scrimmages will be played early in the regular season against other travel teams from MA, CT, RI, and NH. These games will help prepare the team for the state qualifying games. Scrimmages will also be played, after the state tournament.
  3. “Open Play Schedule” will allow those teams to schedule games as they see fit to help them prepare for the National Tournament. Lightning Baseball will use this open play schedule to play only the best competition available.  A New England Tournament will be held to determine which teams qualify for Div. 1 or Div. 2.

Regular Season 15u-16u

Our 15U and 16U teams do not start until the high school season is completed usually early June.

Once the season starts, Lightning Baseball, for 15U-16U is your #1 sports priority. You can play on other teams but our games and practices take priority. You cannot pitch on another team without our permission.  At ages 15U-16U you cannot play on your summer all-star team.

  • A typical week during the regular season consists of one midweek outdoor practice, one midweek indoor practice and either doubleheaders or tournament play on Saturday and Sunday.
  • “Open Play Schedule” will allow those teams to schedule games as they see fit to help them prepare for the National Tournament. Lightning Baseball will use this open play schedule to play only the best competition available.  A New England Tournament will be held in the 15u division to determine which teams qualify for Div. 1 or Div. 2.

National Championship Tournament (10 Days, 40 to 100 teams)

During the summer months teams will participate in the National Championship Tournament, which are held at various locations around the country.  The 13u-14u participate in one National Tournament while the 15u-16u may participate in two or more.

A typical week at a National Tournament is as follows:

  1. Tournament Structure
    1. Pool play consists of four team pools where each team plays 3 games against the other teams in its pool. The top 2 teams from each pool and sometimes a few wild cards advance to the medal round. Teams that do not advance from this first pool move on to a losers bracket.
    2. The Championship Round also consists of 4 team pools again where each team plays 3 games against other teams in its pool with the top 2 advancing to the Medal round.
    3. The Medal round is an 8-team single elimination tournament with games played out to decide the standings from 1-8. All teams in this round earn a medal, Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Copper.

The formal Lightning Baseball season ends upon the return from the National Championship Tournament and winds up with a season ending banquet in September.