The Dusters baseball club has set itself up as a "feeder" program for Maricopa High School. Submitted

The Maricopa Dusters, a local club baseball team, joined forces with the baseball program at Maricopa High School to become the official youth club feeder program for the high school. The alignment is a strategic effort designed to coordinate and improve baseball instruction and play within the Maricopa community.

Maricopa once experienced a rich baseball history with several MLB teams holding tryouts many years ago. While those opportunities have subsided due to changes by MLB, the history of the baseball in Maricopa often goes unnoticed. Locally, the Dusters are making their second-straight USSSA World Series Appearance this summer, competing in the Under Armour Global World Series. Additionally, a local youth player is competing in the USSSA All-American Games this summer in Florida. 

“We are super excited to begin this partnership with the Dusters,” Maricopa Rams head coach Andrew Pollak stated. “Maricopa is a great city with some very good baseball talent. We want to continue to grow that talent pool and have a positive impact on the youth in our community. We recognize the talent the Dusters and other teams offer and we want to inject a new-found enthusiasm for the sport of baseball. This is going to provide some great learning opportunities and memories for the young ones in our city.”

To help facilitate this change, the Dusters and Rams will collaborate efforts that positively impact all local kids in baseball and create a stronger development pipeline. The Dusters will seek to expand with multiple teams in Maricopa at the club and novice level. For those players not yet ready for club action, the newly-formed Dusters Academy will help increase their baseball awareness, skills and development.

“We want to make Maricopa a baseball town and this is the how we start to accomplish that goal,” Dusters head coach Marty McDonald said. “If a family in Maricopa truly understands the actual path of baseball development from Little League to club to high school, it really will allow for the player to properly develop and increase their enthusiasm for the sport. Further, we want to provide coaches training and support for those who want to help but might need some seasoning and mentorship. It’s really a win-win situation for everyone in the community.”

Players in the program will receive instruction from former professional players, college players and college coaches, who make up the coaching staff for the Rams and Dusters. The program will be open to boys and girls ages 7 to 18 and costs will vary based on level of competition. Cost structure will vary based on level of play.

For more information or to place your son or daughter on the “prospect” list please email organizers at [email protected] or call the Dusters at 480-236-6394.