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PROSPERITY — Dixie Youth baseball registration will be ongoing through Feb. 15 for both franchises the Town of Prosperity now owns.

Dixie Youth was split into two franchises — Prosperity and Mid-Carolina — and now the town owns both franchises.

The double Mid-Carolinas are not to be confused with each other since the new formation of the Mid-Carolina Little League under the direction of Andy Moore and Chris Cromer. Their registration deadline is Feb. 2 at either the Pomaria ball field, Little Mountain Ruritan building or Wightman U.M.C.

“Dixie Youth Baseball is still strong in Prosperity and in Newberry County and is not going any where. Yes, there will be two franchises in the county of Newberry as planned. The only change now is that the Town of Prosperity owns both franchises,” said Rickey Polson, Dixie Youth’s District 3 Director.

The two franchises were formed because a franchise cannot be over the 20,000 limit which was exceeded by the original Dixie Youth franchise.

The Mid-Carolina franchise encompasses Pomaria, Little Mountain and half of Newberry/Gallman. The Prosperity franchise encompasses Prosperity, Reuben, Whitmire and half of Newberry/Gallman.

The Mid-Carolina Dixie Youth is also referred to as a Local League. Prosperity Dixie Youth, Little Mountain Dixie Youth, Pomaria Dixie Youth and Whitmire Dixie Youth are the individual leagues that make up the Local League, also known as Mid-Carolina Dixie Youth, according to the Mid-Carolina Dixie Youth by-laws.

“The Town of Prosperity will put all the players that sign up in a draft and divide the players into two leagues. There will be one league called the Mid-Carolina and the other called Prosperity. This means there will be two All-Star teams, one from each franchise. Also this will divide the talent evenly on all teams and not have some teams stacked,” said Polson.

As of now, it is yet to be determined if the same teams will be maintained in the draft as it depends on the total number of registered children.

“Any child in Newberry County now has a chance to play Dixie Youth baseball, on the local league and tournament level,” wrote Paul McCulloch, state director for Dixie Youth, in a letter.

Interested applicants can register at Prosperity Town Hall or Newberry Y for Dixie Youth which is for children between the ages of 8 and 12. The ages are broken into 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12. Prosperity is also taking applications for the following: T-ball ages 4-6, Coaches’ Pitch ages 6-8 and girls softball ages 8-15.

For those interested in the new Little League, parents can contact Cromer at 513-6232 or Moore at 924-1459.