Play ball! Sequim Little League kicks off 2024 season

With players representing more than two dozen teams ready for action, Sequim Little League’s 2024 season got underway with Opening Day ceremonies on April 17.

Under blue skies, new Sequim Police chief Mike Hill threw out the opening pitch, as did (a little later) new Fire District 3 Justin Grider, to help jump-start a season that sees more than 300 boys and girls signed up to play on various baseball and softball teams.

The league also announced the Don Knapp sportsmanship awards to Dakota Lowe-Thaens (baseball) and Sasha Yada (softball). Before he passed away in November 2020, Knapp was influential into building up the league as a coach and volunteer.

“As a coach, he shared his love of the game worth ethic and his philosophy to always do your best,” league representatives said.

This year’s Little League baseball teams include: eight T-ball squads (Auto Depot, JAC Construction, Larson Tiny Homes, Mobile Pressure Cleaning, OlyPen, Robust Rentals, Titan Builders, Webb Concrete); six prep baseball teams (Ambro’s Landscaping, Blue Mountain Tree Service, Copy Cat Graphics, McFarlen Milling and Construction, Northwest Log Homes, Olympic Peninsula Stone), four minors teams (Bekkevar Logging, Mariner Café, Olympic Disposal, Strait Line Contracting), three majors squads (Castell Insurance, Law Office of Alan Millet, Quality Hardwood Floors), one intermediate team (Adagio Bean & Leaf) and one senior baseball team (Colin Hiday Concrete).

This year’s softball teams include: two minors teams (Bent Gate Farms, Coon Plumbing), two major squads (Naturalist Carpet & Air Duct Cleaning, That Yard Guy) and one senior softball team (Bekkevar Logging).

Sequim Little League president Nick Simpson had high praise for the dozens of local businesses backing this year’s teams.

“It takes the support of the community to make this happen,” he said.

Sequim Little League’s 2024 sponsors include: A2Z Fencing, Adagio Bean & Leaf, Ambo’s Landscaping, Auto Depot, Bandy Farms, Bekkevar Logging and Trucking, Bent Game Farms, Blake Tile and Stone, Castell Insurance, Clallam County Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 2933, Colin Hiday Concrete, Coon Plumbing, Copy Cat Graphics, First Federal, Hart and Co. Excavating, Homer Smith Insurance, JAC Construction, Jones Custom Contracting, Jose’s Salsa, Ken’s Quality Hardwood, Larson Tiny Homes, Law Office of Alan Millet, Mariner Café, McFarlen Miling, Mobile Pressure Cleaning, Mountainside Mail, Naturalist Carpet & Air Duct Cleaning, Nikola Broadband, Northwest Log Homes, OlyPen, Olympic Disposal, Olympic Peninsula Stone, Over the Moon Drywall, Quality Hardwood Floors, Robust Rentals, Sequim Pressure Washing, Strait Arrow Hauling, Strait Line Contracting, That Yard Guy, Thomas Building Supply, Titan Builders, Town and Country Tree Experts, Webb Concrete and We Dig It.

League supporters this year include: City of Sequim, Sequim School District, Clallam County Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 2933, McFarlen Milling, Costco, Dewi Sprague Photography and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

Simpson said there will be plenty of games going on each Wednesday and Saturday throughout the spring at the James Standard Park fields at 124 W. Silberhorn Road.

Simpson is the outgoing president who recognized the work of the league’s board in the past year. Sequim High grad Preston McFarlen is the boar’d president-elect.

“I am proud of the work [we’ve done] here,” Simpson said. “I hope I have served you all well.”

For more about the Sequim Little League, see sequimlittleleague.com.