I have always enjoyed Kalle Oakes’ writing but never took time to respond, until now. This is in response to his column of July 11, “Baseball’s dying. Who’s got the will?”

A high school athlete’s summer is very different than it was just 10 to 15 years ago. Oakes does make some valid points about the direction baseball is going, but I would like to share some positive things that are happening.

Last year, Lewiston joined a Junior Legion League that consisted of kids from the ages of 14-17. The league did not exist five years ago. Today, there are 19 teams, with 15-18 kids per team. During the past two years, Lewiston has been very successful, finishing in first place last year with a 16-2 record and, this year, the team is 13-1 with four games left.

Also, there was a combined tryout for Gayton Legion and the Junior Legion teams. We had 40 kids, but unfortunately had to cut some. The New Auburn Legion situation has an underlying story to it. There are kids from Auburn playing on three different teams.

There are many more options today to play baseball than at any time that I can recall. School, summer and fall leagues are very competitive.

Terry Ricker, Lewiston

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