AMHERST — In past years, when Amherst’s Babe Ruth baseball season ended at the end of May, most of the players were done playing for the summer.

Not this year.

The Pioneer Valley Youth Baseball League organized a Sandy Koufax Division for the first time this spring.

Amherst coach E.J. Mills said that the team was created to give young players a place to play when Babe Ruth finished. Without it, Mills said, most of the players on his team would not have a way to play for the rest of the summer.

“The more that these kids play, the better chance they have to be good high school players,” Mills said. “Baseball is such a repetition sport, and so many new things happen every game. The more the kids play and get themselves in game situations, the better they’re going to be prepared. And we’re playing on the varsity field so these kids are in seventh or eighth grade and this is where they aspire to play down the road.”

Amherst beat Dalton, 3-1, on Tuesday to improve to 6-5 in its inaugural season. The league ends in late July with the postseason tournament.

The creation of the league could spark interest that pays off down the road.

Amherst has not had an American Legion team for the last two years. Mills said that part of the appeal behind creating a Sandy Koufax team was to revitalize interest by getting younger players as much practice as possible.

“We’ve worked really hard to build Amherst baseball from the ground up and it’s always been a great program,” Mills said.

Sandy Koufax is for ages 13-14. Amherst’s team consists mostly of seventh- and eighth-graders with a few high school freshman making the age cutoff.

“At this age you’re still getting used to the bigger field. For the 13 year olds this is their first year on the big field,” Mills said. “But most of these kids were Little League all-stars and they’re pretty proficient at throwing it, catching it. For the most part I’ve been really pleased. The effort is phenomenal but the execution has been really strong as well.”

J.B. Mills, E.J.’s 14-year-old son, just finished his freshman year playing varsity for Amherst Regional. J.B. Mills said that he is glad the Koufax team was formed so he can get as much practice as possible. While he catches for Amherst’s Mickey Mantle team, he plays other positions for the Koufax team.

Mills went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored against Dalton.

“I’ve been playing a lot of positions other than catcher because I catch for Mickey Mantle pretty much every game. Here, I’ve been able to play a little bit everywhere,” J.B. Mills said. “I played catcher tonight but I think developing and being able to be a utility player and play wherever is good.”

Having the opportunity to play more and at different positions is beneficial to a player’s growth. E.J. Mills changes positions throughout the game, cycling his players through different places on the field after most innings.

“Predominately the outfield guys play outfield, but we’ll mix it up,” he said. “A lot of these players were Little League all-stars and now they’re branching out and learning to play those other positions.”

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