After years of hopes and dreams, the Clear Creek Middle School baseball team has became a reality.

The CCMS Bobcats will play a 12-game schedule in 2016. According to Clear Creek athletic director Jerry Barnes, the addition was the brainchild of former Gilmer High School head baseball coach James Plouffe.

“Coach Plouffe and I talked about it last year and he wanted a feeder system, but it came to fruition a little differently,” Barnes explained. “We sent the kids up to the high school to play under them. (The team was dubbed the ‘C-Team’ by GHS). But this year is the first, full-fledged baseball team at Clear Creek Middle School. Some of the schools around us offer it and we wanted to offer the same opportunity to our kids.”

Matt Banks will be heading up the program at CCMS. Banks is also part of the coaching lineup for the GHS football team.

“It’s an exciting time for Gilmer County baseball,” Banks said. “Right now, since we’re just in the infancy of the program, we’re just going to have one team. Several years down the road, we might have two. We’re planning on having 16-17 kids, (from) sixth, seventh and eighth-grade. We’re just trying to get the kids ready to go for the high school. I’m excited to try and get the program off the ground.”

CCMS will hold pre-season workouts tomorrow and Thursday, with the three-day tryout session beginning Feb. 1. Until the completion of the ball fields at Clear Creek, the Bobcats will play their games at Field Two of the Gilmer County Recreation and Parks Department.