Pearland Little League

History of the Pearland Little League (A continuing history of Pearland Little League, updated yearly) Armed with a $200 donation from the Pearland Lion’s Club, youth baseball started in Pearland in 1957.  The first year, there were only four teams.  Through the remainder of the 1950s and 1960s (with the exception of 1959, which was played in Manvel) games were played at the Lion’s Club Park, located in the triangle where the bowling alley sits today. Prior to the 1970 season, Pearland received its Little League Charter.  Baseball continued at the Lion’s Club park through the 1974 season when the owners, Atlantic Richfield, sold the property.  After having constructed fields, announcer booths, etc., Pearland Little League had to begin anew. In 1975, Pearland Little League began life in a new home on the Dad’s Club Property.  Over a series of seasons, five fields, two concession stands/announcers booths were constructed.  Lights were hung, plumbing installed… the list goes on. During the 1996 and 1997 seasons, major renovations occurred at the Pearland Little League.  One of the most significant endeavors was the building of the new restroom facility.  Through the hard work of numerous volunteers, many significant improvements were made.  These include: new lighting of every field, 450 yards of concrete poured, new scoreboards, extensions to the concession stands, trees, a new information center, new asphalt, enlarged parking in the back, ditches, more trees, new fencing on each field, netting added two fields, and landscaping. In 1998, renovations included installation of batting cages, new bleachers on the four-field side, and the concession stand on the senior field side. The year 2006 featured a major change to the age structure of Little League, as the divisions got 3 months older.  The cut-off date moved from July 31 to Apr 30, and a special exception was extended to allow children league age 12 whose birth date fell between May 1 to July 31 to participate in the Little League World Series tournament event. In 2008, President Jeff Bettencourt introduced the Instructional Tee Ball program, which helped draw in a younger crowd and increase the population of players at Pearland Little League. In 2010, Pearland Little League White won the Little League Baseball Southwest Regional and advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.  The team played hard and eventually reached the US Championship game after an emotional comeback victory against the Northwest team in the final elimination game.  The Pearland boys came up short against Hawaii and in the consolation game, but they set a standard for excellence for Pearland Little League that would play out over the coming years. In 2011, Pearland Little League Maroon advanced to the Southwest Regional Championship before giving way to a determined Lafayette, LA, team. In 2012, Pearland Little League advanced two teams to the Texas East State Championship.  While the 10-11 year old team fell to Lamar prior to the championship game, the 9-10 year old Pearland LL White team won the Texas East State Championship. In 2013, Pearland Maroon Majors and Pearland White 9-10s won their respective Texas East Tournaments.  Pearland Little League Maroon advanced to the Southwest Regional Tournament, but was unable to advance out of the pool play round. In 2014, Pearland Little League redrew its borders to align East and West.  In the first year of its existence, Pearland East (formerly Pearland LL Maroon) won the TX East State Championship and advanced to the Southwest Regional Tournament.  In the championship game, Pearland Little League defeated South Lake Charles and earned a berth in the 68th Little League World Series.  The Pearland East boys faced a determined Philadelphia team (featuring female phenom Mo’ne Davis) that fought to come back and hand them their first tournament loss in Williamsport.  The Pearland boys played with determination over the next two games before succumbing to the team from Chicago, the eventual US Champions.  In 2022, Pearland again sent two teams to the TX East State Championship; one in the Junior division, that eventually fell short, and the other in the 12 year old division.  . The 12 year old team advanced to the Southwest Regionals in Waco where they became much publicized champs and earned a birth in the 2022 Little League World Series (LLWS) tournament.  This years LLWS marks the 75th anniversary of the nationally celebrated end of summer classic.