Big Willow will have the following teams in 2016. These teams are in addition to our regular in-house program. Players will be evaluated and placed on a team based on age and skill. There is additional cost to participate on a tournament team. Typically the cost is about $375 in addition to house team registration. Players will get a separate jersey and hat.

10AA, 11AAA, & 12A (if sufficient interest)
12AA (Travel only)
Travel only players do not play on a house team, see information below (cost will be about $550)

Tryouts by age group for these teams will be held on Saturday Feb. 27 at Hopkins West Junior High

10u - 4 – 5:30 pm (arrive at 3:45 to check in and begin warm up)
11u - 5:30 – 7:00 pm (arrive by 5:15 to check in and begin warm up)
12u - 7:00 – 9:00 pm (arrive by 6:45 to check in and begin warm up)

All players trying out for any of these teams must be registered as either a Majors or Farm player. Send an email to president@bigwillowbaseball.com to reserve a spot for tryouts.

Eligibility (new in 2016)
Metro Baseball and Gopher State, the organizations that sanction tournaments, require participating organizations to have established community boundaries.

To participate in these tournaments, Big Willow Baseball Association has defined its boundaries for eligibility as follows:

To participate on Big Willow tournament or travel team, players must reside within the boundaries of Independent School District 276 or 270 (Minnetonka or Hopkins School Districts) OR if outside the boundaries the player must be open-enrolled in a public school of ISD 276 or 270. A listing of those schools may be found at www.minnetonka.k12.mn.us or www.hopkins.k12.mn.us.

Exceptions to these requirements have to be approved by the board and will also require a waiver from the travel baseball association from the area of residence. Please contact Jason Moeckel at jamoeckel@comcast.net to inquire about eligibility or waivers.

To play on a tournament or travel team, players must meet the age requirements. Players can play up but cannot play down in age. May 1 is the date of baseball age determination.

For example, a player whose birthday is April 30, 2003 would not be eligible for a 12u team, but a player whose birthday is May 1, 2003 or later is eligible.

Big Willow Tournament Team Schedules
Note: As much as possible, we have scheduled teams to play at the same tournaments.

This was intentional to facilitate ride sharing, families with multiple players, and to enhance our baseball community. *** indicate that 3 BW teams are playing in that tournament; ** 2 BW teams playing in the same tournament.
 

10AA
5/6 – Eden Prairie***
5/13 – Chaska
6/10 – Prior Lake (pending)
6/17 – Edina**
7/8 – Gopher State (if qualified)
7/15 – MBT State (if qualified)
 

11AAA
5/6 – Eden Prairie***
5/20 – Edina
6/3 – Burnsville**
6/10 – Shakopee***
7/8 – MBT State (if qualified)
7/15 – Gopher State (if qualified)
 

12A
5/13 – Apple Valley
6/3 – Burnsville**
6/10 – Shakopee***
7/8 – MBT State (if qualified)
7/22 – Gopher State (if qualified)
 

12AA (Travel Only)

4/16 – Iowa confirmed
5/6 – Eden Prairie***
5/20 – Brooklyn Park
6/10 – Shakopee***
6/17 – Edina**
7/8 – Gopher State (if qualified)
7/15 – MBT State (if qualified)

Big Willow 12AA Traveling Team
A season consists of 16 regular season games, at least 12 - 20 weekend-tournament games (4 weekends see below), as many as 3 playoff games, and 6 - 12 state tournament games (if qualified) for a total of 34 - 52 games. The more games a team wins in tournaments, the more games they play. Players on the travel team do not play on a Big Willow house team.

Most of the weekend tournaments have a pool-play/bracket-play format, so 5 to 6 games are played to reach the championship game. A traveling-team player should be prepared to commit to 5 days a week of baseball during the months of May/June and early July.

Travel baseball will start in late March with 1-2 indoor practices a week (except during spring break). Practices will increase in April to about 3 per week. We start playing games in May and have about 5 baseball events per week. One of those practices will typically be a 90 minute batting and strength training day.

Regular season games will be played on weeknights at Big Willow and other nearby metro communities. Regular season game schedule and times are not yet determined. Games will typically be played at 5:45 or 7:45.

12AA Weekend Tournaments
4/16 – Iowa confirmed
5/6 – Eden Prairie
5/20 – Brooklyn Park
6/10 – Shakopee
6/17 – Edina
7/8 – Gopher State Tournament of Champions (if qualified)
7/15 – Metro Baseball State Tournament (if qualified)