In the spring of 2022 two great baseball programs, Archer Lodge Community Center and Clayton Little League announced their intentions to form a partnership and work together. The partnership was driven by a decreasing number of players coming out for youth recreational baseball each spring.

For decades, youth baseball has been a part of the lives of the many boys and girls that have grown up in Johnston County.  While that continues to be true, the unfortunate reality is, due to a variety of circumstances, youth recreational baseball is part of fewer young lives than it was even 10 years ago. The rise of travel baseball and other sports that were not prominent years ago, or sports that play year-round rather than seasonally, have significantly impacted youth recreational baseball enrollment.

As a result, ensuring kids are playing at the correct level each season has been increasingly difficult. These two community baseball programs partnering together will help us ensure sustainable youth baseball in Johnston County by increasing the pool of available players for the various age divisions, helping to align players of similar talent and age.  Partnering of the leagues also allows a combination of resources (i.e., funds, volunteers, facilities, etc.) to better coach, support, and manage the teams, hopefully grow youth recreational baseball in Johnston County. The league's partnership invite players, age 4 - 12 for baseball and age 4-12 for girls softball, to sign up and have fun.