- May 5, 2026
A new baseball league could be playing at Palm Coast’s Indian Trails Sports Complex this summer, pending the approval of the Palm Coast City Council.
The Orange State League is a newly established wooden-bat baseball league designed to provide competitive opportunities for collegiate athletes. The League has applied for a facility use agreement with Palm Coast to use baseball field 2 at the Indian Trails Sports Complex for its game season.
But at the May 5 Palm Coast City Council meeting, the council tabled approving the agreement until several concerns were resolved. Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Carli Pontieri said that while she’s supportive of bringing in a new baseball league, she wants to ensure the city is avoiding creating additional conflicts on the fields.
“We don't want to delay their ability to sell tickets or to attract people to their league and their season,” she said. “But we don't want to create more problems in an arena where we already know we have problems.”
The League thus far has teams from Cocoa, New Smyrna, St. Augustine and Palm Coast. The Palm Coast team is the Palm Coast Big Buoys, whose mascot is a manatee holding a buoy.
Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst said the Orange State League will begin its season at the end of June, after the Palm Coast Little Playoffs are over, and end before August. The agreement is non-exclusive, Hirst said, meaning the other fields will be open for use and the Orange State League will be using baseball field 2.
City Attorney Marcus Duffy also noted that the agreement is subject to whatever is already scheduled for the field.
The city's sports fields are notoriously in high demand from tournaments and local leagues. Hirst said the Orange State League has already made accommodations for the city, moving their games later in June to accommodate the Palm Coast Little League playoff games.
“They are already kind of aware of the situation, but also have made accommodations,” Hirst said.
The Orange State League will also be subject to the same permitting fees for events, and will be required to maintain the field during their games. Their proposed agreement with Palm Coast would also give them exclusive operating rights to the concession stand during their games.
Pontieri was concerned that the wording in the contract was too broad in several areas, namely the maintenance responsibilities and the concession stand right. She and Councilman Ty Miller also had concerns about whether the Palm Coast Little League had been involved in the conversation as well.
“I just want to make sure that [Palm Coast] Little League is comfortable with this agreement as well,” Miller said.
Overall the council said it was excited about the prospect of the collegiate league joining the ranks in Palm Coast, but felt the agreement needed more work before approval. Duffy and Hirst will work to clarify division of maintenance costs and responsibility, the extent of the concession stand rights and ensure the agreement does not conflict with the Palm Coast Little League agreement.
Hirst said tabling the agreement would not cause any delays with the Orange State League’s scheduling. The agreement will be reviewed again at the May 19 meeting.
