Without question, one of the best things about the arrival of spring is that our local diamonds will soon be full of aspiring young ballplayers who are in pursuit of their dreams. Those of us who spent much time on ball fields growing up can still remember what the arrival of ball season was like; how the wet grass smelled when we had an early morning practice or game; what we saw in the mirror the first time we put on our new game uniforms; and how our stomach felt as we stepped up to the plate for the first time each season.

There are a ton of good reasons why baseball is one of the most written and romanticized about experiences of our collective youth. And with the explosion of participation in youth softball, boys and girls alike are now able to forge memories and experiences that will stay with them for a lifetime.

While we run the risk of throwing open the proverbial floodgates by doing so, we’d like to extend an invitation for you to send us some photographs of our local ballplayers on the field. And while we obviously won’t be able to print them all, we’ll do our best to print as many as we can. All we ask is that you send us your best shots, by email if possible, and let us know who is in the picture.

Playing ball every spring is one of the greatest shared childhood experiences in America.

We’d love to help give them something to cut out of the newspaper and remember theirs by.