Building a girls' baseball league from the ground up is an incredibly rewarding journey, and it is much more manageable than it might seem! This checklist is specifically designed for a parent or local volunteer working within or partnering across local baseball associations. With the right framework, running a league is highly approachable and can easily be managed by a single dedicated person investing just 5 to 10 hours per week, depending on the season. The secret to success without the stress is simple: early preparation. We highly encourage you to connect and begin planning with your local association as early as possible - ideally a full year in advance, or at the very least, during the fall before your spring launch.
Special credit goes to Baseball BC (BC Girl's Baseball) for providing the foundational framework that made this step-by-step checklist possible.
Redefining a “League": You Can Start Small
Before jumping into the checklist, remember that while a league featuring a complex, multi-team schedule may be the end goal – it's just not realistic for every association. Your association may not have the numbers or infrastructure just yet. That’s okay – building up girl’s baseball in your association can start small, as long as it starts! Starting out, it can simply mean providing a dedicated, consistent space for girls to experience baseball together. Here are a few alternative models that we’ve seen in the past:
The Weekly Instructional Model: From 2018–2022, the foundation for girls' baseball in BC wasn't a rigid league; it was a once-a-week Instructional Session. It focused on getting local girls together to be mentored by female coaches, showing them that other girls play baseball too. This league was a great model to start; the numbers weren’t there for full-on game play, but the instructional league still enabled local girls to get together and have fun!
The “Starting Small” Model: You don’t need 10 teams of full-time players to start a girl’s baseball league. In its first year, the BC Girl’s Baseball League had 3 teams at the 12U level, and game play was once weekly with flexible rules to accommodate for varying skill levels. To play games, all you need is two teams and one day a week of availability. This model allows girls to continue to play for their co-ed teams while experiencing all-girls game play.
The Partnership Model: Want to get more girls involved and don’t have enough players? Many associations choose to partner with a nearby association in the interest of growing the girl’s game. For example, District 5 Little League (made up of 4 associations) has developed their girl’s baseball program in BC through an integrated partnership with one another. Read more about it here. District 1 Little League in BC has also done a fantastic job of this. Read more about it here and here.
The Jamboree/Tournament Model: You can lay the foundation for a league with just a single weekend of tournament play. BC runs the annual Amanda Asay Girl’s baseball jamboree. Local associations each come with a team, and oftentimes playing in the tournament inspires the association to continue with girl’s baseball all-year round. An annual girl's baseball jamboree can set the wheels in motion to inspire others around you to want to help build girl’s baseball as well.
Now you’re ready to start your girl’s baseball programming…
Phase 1: Laying the Groundwork (August – November)
Talk To Your Board: Your first step is to speak to your board/association president about the opportunity to expand to girl’s baseball. Here are several statistics that may help you to build your pitch, if required. In many cases, this is a casual conversation – oftentimes, the only barrier to building a girl’s baseball league is nobody to spearhead it… and that’s where you come in!
(If Desired) Pitch Your Partnership: If your local association lacks enough girls, pitch a cross-association or "district-wide" model (similar to Little League BC districts combining resources). Show the board that you are aggregating players from 3-4 neighboring catchments to form viable cohorts.
Note that some associations have faced resistance due to fears of “losing” players to other associations. A good argument to dispute this is that girl’s baseball is a growing market – and the best way to grow the market is to work together. In the end, we’ll all benefit from attracting more players to the game.
Define the Launch Tier: Lock in what your "Year 1" looks like, and the relevant age groups:
A weekly instructional league
A small, two team league
A league in partnership with other associations
A tournament/jamboree
A full-fledged league within your association
Secure Sanctioning and Field Access: Formally request field permits from your association’s field coordinator. For fall planning, try to negotiate for a consistent night (e.g., "Every Friday Night is Girls' Baseball Night") so parents can easily plan around it.
Note that struggling to find field space is a common barrier for associations looking to build a girl’s program. A good way to overcome this barrier is to leverage the partnership method, pooling field space across local associations when necessary. Eventually, the goal is to have equitable allocation of field space across girl’s and boy’s baseball programming within your association.
Phase 2: Budgeting, Grants & Sponsorship (November – January)
Draft the Budget: Estimate fixed costs (field lime, insurance) and variable costs (dependent on how many girls register) (custom jerseys, hats, umpires). This is an ongoing process.
This can be a very simple income statement style budget. Use the following questions to help guide you:
Are you paying for any coaches or coordinators to run the league/programming?
How many girls/teams do you anticipate registering (make a conservative estimate based on your intel)?
Are you paying for umpires?
Are you paying for field space?
Are you going to have end of year medals and/or participation awards?
Are you going to have custom uniforms?
Are you going to receive any external funding through grants/sponsorship?
Submit Grant Applications and Build a Sponsorship Package, if Desired: See here for opportunities for girl’s baseball sponsorship and grants.
Phase 3: Grassroots Marketing & Registration Setup (December – March)
Email Blitz:
Email all participants in your association several times throughout this period, providing updates on the league/programming and encouraging them to “invite their sisters”, “bring a friend”, or come out to play themselves.
School & Community Blitz:
Draft a PDF flyer detailing that "No experience is necessary."
Reach out to local elementary schools to get it into school newsletters.
Post in local parenting groups explicitly targeting families whose daughters dropped out of sports around ages 9–12.
Digital Marketing Blitz:
Ask your association’s social media person to feature the league several times throughout the winter/spring months to “hype” up the league
If desired/experienced, apply for the Google Ads grant and
If desired/experiences, run Instagram/Facebook advertisements
Open Registration Modalities: Work with your association’s registrar to establish a distinct registration category in their software (e.g., RAMP, SportsEngine). Ensure it allows for "Dual Rostering" options if girls wish to play on a co-ed team and attend your all-girls sessions simultaneously.
Phase 4: Coaching Recruitment & Rules Briefing (Late February – March)
Prioritize Recruiting Female Mentors: Reach out to older competitive girls' baseball divisions (16U/18U), or ask the mothers! Your coaches don't need to be professional strategists; they need to show the younger athletes that girls belong on the diamond.
Interested in coaching girl’s baseball but don’t know where to start? Check out these resources – no prior baseball experience required!
If Desired, Develop a League Rulebook: Many girls may be trying baseball for the first time. You may also have girls who play high performance baseball. Due to the nature of the league, it may be necessary to establish a separate rulebook from the one your association usually plays within. In 2024/2025, Baseball BC leveraged the BC Minor Rulebook and made adaptations to better suit the level of talent in the league. Some highlights include:
The 9U division played an adapted version of Rally Cap that included a 30-minute Baseball BC coach-led skills session, followed by a 60-minute game. Games are a minimum of 4 innings and a maximum of 6 innings.
At the 9U level, for the first four weeks of gameplay, if a player struck out, they were provided with a tee or coach pitch (depending on preference) to a maximum of 5 baseballs. If the fifth ball is not hit, then the coach would roll a baseball into the field to allow the hitter to run the bases and the defense to try and make plays. After week 4, this was re-evaluated and overturned to allow for strike outs.
At the 12U level in 2024, the runner was not allowed to proceed to steal home on a pass ball. In 2025, the rule was updated to allow runners to steal home on a pass ball.
Host a Coaches Briefing: Gather your coaches. Establish the ground rules: development over winning, high-energy encouragement, etc. Use this as an opportunity to review any unique rules the league may have.
Phase 5: Rosters, Schedules & Umpires (March - April)
Roster Submission: If the league is functioning as a full-fledged league with a large number of teams from multiple associations, it is recommended that roster submission be required prior to opening day.
[Balance and Flex the Rosters: If running a multi-team layout, sort rosters with a heavy emphasis on balancing skills, carpools and friend requests. If it's an instructional league model, create rotating stations so everyone interacts.
Umpire Assignment: Coordinate directly with your association's Umpire-in-Chief (UIC). If running an instructional format or a beginner jamboree, request junior umpires—it creates a fantastic, low-pressure development environment for both the young players and the young officials.
Lock in the Schedule: Distribute a master calendar to parents at least 3 weeks before the first pitch.
Phase 6: Executing the Season & Gathering Data (May – June)
Celebrate Opening Day: Make opening day an event with all the teams/parents! It’s a great achievement to build something like this, and it should be celebrated. It’s also a great way to set the tone for the league to come.
Issue Weekly Parent Bulletins: Keep the communication lines wide open. Send a quick email every Sunday celebrating standout moments of sportsmanship from the weekend, and highlighting team standings (if relevant).
Launch the Feedback Survey: In the final week of play, send a digital survey to parents. Ask explicitly: "Does your daughter intend to play baseball again next year?" and "Would she prefer a full-time all-girls league format or a continuation of this year's style?" Use this exact data to pitch your expansion to the association board in the fall.
.png)
