Intermediate League - Baseball Queensland

Intermediate League: Coming in January 2021

Baseball Queensland is presenting an exciting new Intermediate League opportunity for players born between 1 September 2007 and 31 August 2009 (last year of LL and first year of JL).

Intermediate League is available to all players in this age group, regardless of current division level or playing experience, and will supplement the existing Little League and Junior League pathways as a sort of “bridge” development opportunity between the two.

Contact your region to find out more about expressing your interest and specific registration information. Region contact details are listed below.

Why Intermediate League?

One of the goals of Baseball Queensland is to offer more game opportunities. Intermediate League is being created to offer more players more games and another state and national-level tournament opportunity. It’s estimated that around 80-100 kids could be playing IL at the State Titles.

What is Intermediate League?

As part of the Little League International Pathways, Intermediate League is the transitional competition between LL and JL. Right now, it does not exist in Queensland other than a few teams in the Gold Coast competition. The IL pitching distance is 50 feet and the base distances are 70 feet. The majority of Queensland players in this age group currently make the biggest jump in youth baseball, going from LL distances of 46 feet pitching distance to 54 feet in JL, and base distances of 60 feet to 80 feet.

Qualification Games

In order to qualify for the Intermediate League State and National tournaments, players must participate in 12 qualifying games prior to the State Titles. To support this process, Baseball Queensland is providing the opportunity for teams to play qualification games as follows:

Games 1-6 as part of the Gold Coast Summer Classic, being held Friday, 8th January to Sunday, 10th January 2021.
Games 7-8 at Pine Hills on Saturday, 16th January
Games 9-10 at Pine Hills on Saturday, 23rd January
Two additional games organised by the regions.

This is not the only way in which teams may play the 12 qualifying games. Regions may also choose to organise games outside of these dates as an additional opportunity for players interested in participating in Intermediate League.

The Development Opportunity

For many players, Intermediate League offers a unique opportunity as a “bridge” between the LL and JL distances. For example, a second year LL player could use the 12 Intermediate League games as a transitional development opportunity, but still choose to trial for their LL regional rep team – they will have the choice because they’ve played both sets of qualification games. Further, a player could trial for their region’s LL or JL Div 1 side (having participated in the required regular season qualification games) and if he/she isn’t selected, they could also trail for their region’s IL team, assuming they’ve played the 12 IL qualification games. So, this player would have the option of playing in the Div 2 State Titles (no National Tournament opportunity) or Intermediate League (State and National Tournament Opportunity), assuming they are selected for their region’s IL team.

Tournament Opportunities

The Queensland Intermediate League State Titles will be held at the same time as the LL, JL, SL and Div 2 tournaments on the weekend of 15-18 April at Redcliffe. It’s estimated that there will be at least four regional IL teams.

The Australian Intermediate League National Tournament will be held at the Old Aerodrome Sporting Complex, Mildura, VIC from Tue, 25 May – Sat, 29 May 2021.

Note: Other tournament opportunities for this age group include the LL and JL Div 1 and Div 2 Titles as well as National Tournament opportunities for LL Div 1 and JL Div 1 sides.

Going Forward

This year, Baseball Queensland is working with the regions to create this Intermediate League opportunity for qualification games and state and national tournaments. In 2021/22 the plan is for IL to be offered to clubs through the GBL, following the normal season/regional rep team format as the other LL Pathways currently offered.