Los Alamos Little League opens season with 384 players, Topper first pitch

Los Alamos Little League opened its 2026 season at Lou Caveglia Field on North Mesa with 384 players spread across 26 teams, a size that makes the county’s spring and early-summer schedule revolve around baseball and softball.

The Topper baseball team handled the ceremonial first pitch, with Hayden Watkins and Boaz Martinez on the mound and Ben Dattlebaum and Lorenzo Twary behind the plate. Little League president Joe Coulter led players in the Little League Pledge, a familiar opening-day moment that also underscored how much of the program depends on volunteer parents and community support.

The league’s reach is not new. Los Alamos County Little League was founded in 1952 and is described as the oldest league in New Mexico. In 2016, it merged with White Rock Little League to form a countywide program, tying players from Los Alamos and White Rock into the same structure and giving the season a broader footprint than a single neighborhood field.

Coulter has said the league is the least expensive youth sports option in town, a detail that matters in a community where family budgets and youth activities often intersect. Registration for the 2026 season ran through Feb. 15, and the league has continued to seek volunteers in multiple roles. Earlier registration coverage put participation at nearly 300 Los Alamos players, making the opening-day count of 384 a sign of how full the roster became by the time games began.

The program also feeds into the county’s broader baseball and softball pipeline. Los Alamos school baseball and softball teams serve as a feeder to Little League, and Coulter has said the league wants to grow back toward pre-pandemic participation. The league now competes in a new district that allows all-star qualification with teams from the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas, adding another layer of competition for players who move through the county system.

With the season running through June and eligibility open to children ages 5 through 13, Little League remains one of Los Alamos’ most durable shared routines. The annual opening ceremony at Lou Caveglia Field, echoing last year’s first-pitch tradition with Lillianna Aragon, shows how deeply the program is woven into local family schedules, high school athletics and the everyday rhythm of the county.