Baseball favors unlikely comebacks, second chances and turnarounds.

Struck out swinging? Try again next at-bat. Walked a batter; made an error? Just turn a double-play.

Remember the century-long promise of the Chicago Cubs: "Wait 'til next year." Baseball's a nine-inning testament to the notion, "Get 'em next time."

Carrboro Recreation and Parks is taking that optimistic approach to its latest cooperative venture, the Hillsborough-East Chatham-Carrboro (H.E.C.C.) Baseball League, comprising 13-15-year-old players from two Hillsborough Youth Athletic League teams; three East Chatham baseball teams; and two Carrboro Recreation and Parks squads, the Red Sox and Braves.

Carrboro Rec had its own 13-15 league for years, and still has Minor, Mite, Midget and Pee Wee leagues for players 5-12 years old. But the town's teenage teams started to see lower numbers some time back, and local administrators decided to breathe life back into youth baseball through the regional league.

"The H.E.C.C. was created due to the downsizing of the Carrboro League," Carrboro recreation supervisor Craig Wolfe said. "It wasn't by our desire, but because without having these (Hillsborough and Chatham) teams to play, we wouldn't have baseball in Carrboro at this age level."

Other towns were finding that competing sports and other programs like USSSA and AAU made the need for collaboration self-evident.

"The other teams were facing a similar situation," Wolfe said. "They didn't have enough players to form their own leagues from within their communities. Just by chance, there was contact made and, the next thing you know, we've got the other teams that now are a part of this program."

Primarily made up of middle school and early high school players, the teams have finished up a 12-game season on the heels of their respective schools' varsity seasons.

UNC student Parker Dozier took the reins of the Carrboro Braves squad (2-5-1), which has one player from Carrboro High, one from East Chapel Hill High School and 10 from Smith Middle School, four of which played for the Cyclones' varsity team. "We haven't done very well," Dozier admitted, but that might not really be that important.

"We're having fun," said standout pitcher-catcher Lincoln Gifford before his Braves team knocked off the Red Sox in a cross-town grudge match last week. "I'm working on throwing strikes."

Carrboro Red Sox (1-8) coach Brandon Ashburn said he'd been coaching both baseball and basketball in Carrboro for three years, but this was his first experience with regional competition.

"Before this, we were self-contained," Ashburn said. "We had four or five teams within Carrboro playing amongst ourselves. Numbers have kind of died off though."

Ashburn and Dozier both committed to the notion that Chapel Hill and Carrboro should be able to support and foster growth in youth baseball, especially in light of the University of North Carolina's consistent success over the past few years.

"Where Parker and I grew up, baseball was a big thing," Ashburn said, "and we're trying to bring that here. We've got the great college program here and a lot of excitement about baseball, but it hasn't caught up in younger leagues yet. These kids are having a great time."

Notable Red Sox talent Kerry Smith said he didn't get to play much for his school team at Pittsboro's Perry Harrison School, and now he's getting playing time with his H.E.C.C. team to hone on his skills.

"I'm just working on infield skills and some pitching," Smith said. "Middle school is more pressure."

Wolfe said it was hard to pin down an exact reason why numbers had fallen off in the self-contained Carrboro league over the past few years.

"I think the (growth of) AAU teams initially started the decline in our numbers, at least here in Carrboro," he said. "We had a league that consisted of six or seven teams at one time. As AAU teams cropped up and school team players had this mindset that playing for recreation teams was a step down, players opted to go the AAU route. The end result of that was dwindling numbers. It started last fall when we didn't have enough numbers to form four teams."

Farm leagues

Wolfe's hope was to form Carrboro teams, which were loosely based on rosters from the four middle school teams, giving McDougle, Smith, Phillips and Culbreth players the opportunity to extend their schoolboy seasons.

"There is a program here -- not AAU, but a league-where you can play 10-12 ballgames versus teams from other communities," Wolfe explained. "Frankly, Hillsborough's teams are basically school-based teams. When I'd originally proposed forming teams based on school teams, I'd gotten a good response from the parents and coaches, but that hasn't necessarily translated to registration yet."

"I think there are so many youth programs here. You've got lacrosse, soccer, and they're involving a lot of kids," Ashburn posited. "I had a lot of kids last year that I called up and asked, 'Hey, why aren't you playing this year?' They're like, 'I'm sorry coach, but I'm dedicating my time to lacrosse.' So, you work with the kids that still want to play."

Future Hopes

Wolfe remains optimistic that the middle school team-based approach can offer benefits to the schools and to the players themselves.

"This year, the (Orange-Person Athletic Conference) league opted not to have a season-ending tournament," he said. "That means that these kids who started playing in February finish in May, and that leaves a gap there between the first week of May and the time that school lets out. Unless they're playing AAU, they're not playing. That's what I'm hoping to tap into."

Wolfe said schools can benefit from keeping rosters together in other leagues, bringing more cohesion back to the field from year to year.

"I think kids in these other districts have embraced playing on after school ball, and that will really help teams like Stanford Middle School," he said. "They get an extra 12-to-15 games in a less stressful environment, but they're also playing together. That's why I'm hoping middle school coaches will see this and say, 'How did Stanford get so much better from one year to the next?' They played in this league. Maybe the McDougle coach and others ... will do the same.

"Our future will kind of depend on the mindset not only of the middle school coaches but of the high school coaches too."

Greater numbers

At present, the Carrboro squads' rosters consist of players possessing a wide disparity in abilities and experience.

"For some, this is their first or second time playing," Dozier said. "We have a pretty wide range of ability levels. Our biggest challenge has been just getting people to show up and working with some of the kids with less experience than the others."

"Some of these kids have never played before, and they're 13, 14, or 15-years old," Ashburn said. "So were having to start with the basics-how to cover the bag. ..."

"We've got kids coming out from their (middle and) high school squads looking to prolong the season and play deeper into the summer," Ashburn added, "and that's mixed in with other kids that don't have that experience or haven't played since t-ball."

"That's part of the recreation mentality," Wolfe said. "Ideally, we'd like to have the school players come back and to have these teams be primarily school team players. But being a recreational league, we accept all abilities."

Ideally, Carrboro's participation in the H.E.C.C. League would grow to include representation from each of the four middle schools and around 50-52 participants.

"The more teams the better, as far as I'm concerned," Wolfe said.

For more...

Wolfe said those with questions regarding the league or how teams can be formed can contact him at Carrboro Recreation and Parks at 918-7364 or email at CWolfe@ci.carrboro.nc.us.

"There's nothing to say that we won't add teams from farther down in Pittsboro or, for that matter, maybe one or two teams from Chapel Hill parks and recreation," Wolfe said. "The teams can be formed any way they like as long as they meet the age guidelines."

And while the Carrboro squads' records may not have been indicative of the positive experience shared by players, Wolfe is remaining hopeful that future campaigns will post bigger numbers on both the rosters and in the box scores.

"I think this is a good first step as a springboard," he said, "and I'm hoping that we at least sustain two teams, but also I'm hoping it grows."

Or as the echoes once rose from Brooklyn's Ebbets Field, "Just wait 'til next year."

Columnist Randy Young can be reached at chnsports.com.

HECC PLAYERS

CARRBORO

BRAVES

Christy Lucas

Alex Duncan

Isaiah Fischer-Brown

Lincoln Gifford

Erik Johnston

Adam Kearney

Diego Lewis

Kevin Mateer

Conner McCaffrey

Kevin Merritt

Conner Parkinson

Frank Roscigno

Brian Stanton

Garrett Young-Wright

Parker Dozier (Coach)

CARRBORO RED SOX

Brooks Benton

Ethan Carey

Wilson Collins

John Skyler Cook

Daniel Govert

Jacob Junker

Daniel Kaplan

Aaron Lindeke-Myers

Jack Linker

Jesse Mechanic

Sam Moffet

Patrick Nanry

Kerry Smith

Max Whelan

Brandon Ashburn (Coach)