For a second straight summer, Vicksburg’s adult baseball league is on hiatus.

The league, which once had as many as 10 teams, was scrapped because of a lack of participation, Vicksburg Parks and Recreation director Joe Graves said. It’s the same reason the season was canceled last summer after a successful three-year run.

Only one team registered to play in 2008 and 2009. An aging core group of players and rising travel costs contributed to the decline, Graves said.

“We did not have enough teams, so we won’t be doing it again this year,” Graves said. “I’d like to see it come back, but a lot of guys that started the league have kids and they’re coaching, or they’re burned out from softball, and they’re doing other things.”

Although the adult league is fast becoming a memory, Graves was hopeful it could be revived in the future. Three of Vicksburg’s four high school teams made it to the state finals the past two seasons, and he felt that as those players graduate they may spark a revival. When the league was started in 2005, recently-graduated high school players made up the bulk of its membership.

For his part, Graves plans to keep the idea of an adult league going. He’ll continue to offer it as one of the Parks and Recreation Department’s summer programs and try to end the hiatus in 2010.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com