Spring Registration

Spring Dates

Houseball: T-Ball, Coach Pitch (Juniors), Brand New to Kid Pitch (Minors B) and Existing Kid Pitch (Farm and Majors)

  • Spring Houseball Registration Opens: December 1, 2025
  • Friend Request Priority Deadline: January 1, 2026
  • Registration Continues, with $25 Late Fee: February 16, 2026
  • Registration Closes: March 15, 2026
  • Waitlist Available and Late Jersey Ordering Fee: after March 16, 2026
  • Final Teams Announced: March 25th
  • Schedule Released: March 30th (see general schedule below)
  • Volunteer Sign-Up Opens: April 7th
  • Season Start Date: April 20, 2026
  • Opening Day Festival: April 25, 2026
  • Season End Date: June 30, 2026 

Optional Travel Lite* and Travel Pathway* for 7-12 Year Olds

Sign up for a free evaluation on our Travel Lite page

  • Spring Travel Lite and Travel Pathway Fall Evaluations: September and October 2025
  • Spring Travel Lite and Travel Pathway Spring Evaluations: March 22, 2026

*Travel Lite players must register for Spring houseball and participate in a Travel Lite/Pathway evaluation in order to participate in Travel Pathway or Travel Lite, which is our weekend tournament team+houseball team program.  Learn more here.

Spring Dates

  • T-Ball: Mondays at 5:15 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:00 or 10:00 a.m.
  • Juniors: Wednesdays at 5:15 or 6:45 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:00 or 10:30 a.m.
  • Farm: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:15 or 6:45 or 7:15 p.m.
  • Majors: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:15 or 6:45 or 7:30 p.m. 

Exact practice and game schedules will be announced once teams are formed in late March.

What can you expect in 2026?

Integrated Development:  Dual practices + scrimmages for all divisions and built-in pre-game practice time along with a balanced practice and game schedule for Juniors, Farm, and Majors.

Flexible Divisions and Progressive Development: Juniors and Farm pitching rules will be tailored and adjusted throughout the season to ensure hitting and fielding can also be a focus.

Development Pathways:  Multiple development pathways to support your short and long term baseball goals:

  1. House ball: open to all 4-12U with interleague games for older players
  2. Travel Lite: house ball plus weekend tournaments for 9U and older
  3. Travel/Travel Lite Pathway: house ball during your early years, with the intention to transition to a travel league at 9U or older

Interleague and House Games: In addition to our in-house games, we will partner with other local baseball organizations for Farm and Majors players – almost all hosted at Big Willow fields.  Juniors may have some opportunities depending on final rosters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Players age 4 through 12 (as of May 1 for the season year) are invited to play in our Spring league.  See the table below for more info.  Exceptions may be made for 3-year old players who turn 4 during the baseball season if the parent is one of the coaches and must attend every session.  Please contact president@bigwillowbaseball.com to discuss an age waiver.

Yes!  Friend requests can be made during the registration process (write them in order of priority, as not all friend requests are guaranteed).  We want players to play with their friends, but we also want to ensure balanced teams.  For Juniors, Minors B, Farm, and Majors we conduct evaluations and consider those results in conjunction with friend requests.  Additionally, those who register before January 1st have a greater likelihood of more friend requests being honored.

No.  All registration for the Spring season is for individual players only.

The deadline to register is February 15th at 11:59 p.m.   Be sure to register as early as possible because registration space is limited.  Your early registration also helps league officials create teams, plan schedules, recruit parent-coaches and honor friend requests.  Late registrations will incur a $25 late registration fee.

Please refer to our refund policy section.

Big Willow board members (who are already volunteers!) are exempt.  Head coaches are exempt.  Sponsors are exempt.  All others, including assistant coaches, are required to either complete the required volunteer shifts for the season per player or purchase a buyout.  Volunteer shifts include serving in the concession stand as well as several other non-concession stand opportunities.  These will be communicated closer to the start of the season.  See the Parent Volunteers section for more info.

Contact the registrar at president@bigwillow.com

The Spring season runs from approximately April 20 through approximately June 30.

Big Willow welcomes players from all over the West Metro. While Big Willow is based in Minnetonka within the Hopkins School district boundaries, players in past years have come from Hopkins, Minnetonka, Golden Valley, Plymouth, Edina, Eden Prairie, St. Louis Park, Wayzata and more.

Mites: Teams are formed by the league organizers using friend requests, schools attended and availability of head coaching volunteers.  Our goal is to create teams with familiar faces for kids to build friendships and create a love for the game.

Juniors: Teams are formed based on a combination of friend requests, age/years of experience, and knowledge of player skills based on past performance. 

Farm, and Majors:  Teams are established using player evaluations and knowledge of player skills based on past performance.  Our goal is to create evenly balanced teams to provide for fair competition and a fun and enjoyable season.  We will honor friend requests the best we can while still maintaining balanced teams.

 Each division will meet twice a week and will involve either a Practice, Batting Cage time, Practice+Scrimmage or a Game.  We believe in ongoing development and having fun, therefore, most practices will include a short scrimmage with another team.  For Mites, we will have rotating development stations at all practices/scrimmages and games so that your child is engaged throughout the session.  Most practices will involve two teams per field.

Refer to the Division Information Table below

Weekday game start times are typically something like the following, but these are subject to change once all rosters are finalized.  The first weeknight events will be at 5:15 p.m.  Second events begin between 6 and 7:30 p.m. depending on the night and age level.  Saturday events will start at 9 am, with the second events beginning at 10 for T-Ball and 10:30 or 10:45 a.m.  for Juniors.

These are subject to change once rosters and the schedule are finalized.

  • T-Ball: All games are one hour (1:00) in length.
  • Juniors: All games are one hour 30 minutes (1:30) in length.
  • Farm: All game are roughly one hour 45 minutes (1:45) in length.
  • Majors: All games are roughly two hours (2:00) in length.

End of season events are determined during the rostering and scheduling process closer to the start of the season.

How to pick the right age group for your player

Please note that if your child’s birthday falls between May 1 and August 31 and you have questions about which division he or she qualified for, you may email the registrar contact.  Please also note that the age brackets below apply to our Spring league.  Summer league divisions will differ – please refer to the Summer league page.

In addition to the table below, some players will have additional practices.

  • Occasional Optional Development “Open Practices” for Juniors players on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays, and/or Sundays – announced closer to the start of the season
  • Travel Lite and Pathway players will have additional practices and weekend tournaments – scheduled directly with your head coach

Division Information – (Program Days are SPRING ONLY)

TEAM FORMATION

Juniors, Farm, Majors Divisions – Formed through an evaluation process to make sure that teams are evenly formed, with school and friend requests used as additional considerations.

Mites (T-Ball) Division) – Formed by friend requests and school attendance as best as possible.  Any sign up after team formation will be placed in empty spots to fill teams evenly or added to the waitlist- NO EXCEPTIONS.

Spring Refund Policy

  • By March 15: Full refund of registration fees, less $50.
  • March 16 through April 10: 50% refund of your registration fees.
  • If you cancel your child’s registration on or after April 11, you will not be eligible for a refund.

Late registration fees are non-refundable

BIG WILLOW DEPENDS ON PARENT VOLUNTEERS

Minnetonka Big Willow Baseball requires that every family fulfill volunteer shifts per player as noted in the Table below.   These volunteer hours are used to support the concession stand and other functions.  Concession stand volunteer opportunities will be communicated closer to the start of the season. 

You may elect to not fulfill volunteer duties at the time of registration.  The volunteer buyout fee noted below will be added to your registration cost.

If you elect to volunteer and your family’s hours are not fulfilled by the end of the season, you will be billed the incomplete volunteer fee.   All volunteer requirements must be scheduled by June 1st to avoid the incomplete fee.

Per Family Volunteer Requirements (Spring Season)

Volunteer as a Board MemberVolunteer as a Board Member

We are also actively recruiting several board member positions.  Board members are eligible for one free Spring registration.  Please contact our current president, Kara Francis, prior to registering if you’d like more information regarding board level positions. (president@bigwillowbaseball.com)

Coach Registration

Big Willow Baseball Association uses TrustedCoaches for all Background Checks, Concussion, and Abuse Prevention Training.  All volunteers wishing to coach will need to complete the following Coach Registration as well as required training.  Previous background checks/training will need to be brought up to date.  Thank you – Big Willow Board.  

Note: For best results, complete the coach registration form using the same Sports Engine login used to register your kids.

If you have registered as a Big Willow Baseball Coach previously, you do not need to register as a coach using this form again, but you may need to renew other certifications, so please still review the Coach To-Do List.