The Bismarck Naturals are an 11-year-old baseball team that has broken away from Bismarck Youth Baseball this 2022 spring/summer season.  I spoke recently with Brandon Lemer who is one of the organizers of the program to find out what precipitated the move.

"Kids play more baseball and it's given more opportunity to develop and grow baseball in Bismarck.  Our mission is to help kids love baseball again, as way too many boys stop playing baseball at age 13."

The Bismarck Naturals will play a 55-game season this spring/summer.  They will play 4 to 5 games a week and practice a couple of times a week.  That is certainly more games than a typical child would play as an 11-year-old in the Bismarck Youth Baseball program.

The Naturals have played about 30 games so far.  Teams they played so far in the state include 11 and 12-year-old teams from Mandan, Williston, Minot, and Jamestown.  They've also played out-of-state teams from Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Watertown, South Dakota, Billings, Montana, and even Brandon, Manitoba.

The Bismarck Naturals are a USSSA-affiliated team.  They are not associated with Cal Ripken or Little League.  Although the Little League Organization has approached the Bismarck Naturals board.

Brandon Lemer told me Bismarck Parks and Rec has been very easy to work with and has gone out of its way to accommodate their requests for the use of fields.

Since the Bismarck Naturals are a USSSA-affiliated team they do not have the opportunity to move on to a state, regional or national tournament like a Cal Ripken team would.  Instead, they will participate in an end-of-year tournament at Wisconsin Dells.

Lemer said there are talks about expanding the program to other age groups in the future.  Those discussions will be handled by the board.  Best of luck to this new baseball program in Bismarck.


 

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