POULSBO — The boys of summer are back.

North Kitsap’s Junior Babe Ruth baseball season kicks off today, as Snider Park will host eight games during the weekend, marking the beginning of the 2006 campaign.

Kitsap Towing faces Zimmer Construction in the first game of the year for the Preparatory (13-year-old) division with first pitch set for 9 a.m. today, while the Majors (14/15-year-old) division gets rolling as TRC takes on ATS with first pitch set for 3 p.m. at the revamped Snider field.

“We got a $6,000 grant from Wal-Mart and we’ve been using some of that money to put in new turf to get the infield ready to go,” NKBR vice president Rocco Bagala said of an increased effort toward improving field conditions this year. “We’re ready for opening day.”

Volunteers, players, coaches and parents put in about 40 hours of volunteer time during the early part of the year to prepare the field for season play, NKBR president Russ Barker added.

Numerous work parties have resulted in a revitalized outfield wall, newly painted sponsor boards and a rejuvenated infield turf with a new batch of sod.

The most recent work party April 1 brought out all of the 2006 teams to finish up the new infield for opening day.

“Our turnout was better this year,” Bagala said of the overall player interest. “It seems like there are a lot more kids coming out. We really look forward to that participation.”

By the end of the March 5 registration and the March 18 player draft, a total of 81 14/15-year-olds and 60 13-year-olds were chosen by managers, making up six Majors teams and five Preparatory teams, according to the NKBR Web site.

The NKBR League is a strictly community-based league, Barker said.

The league has minimum playing time requirements for each player and no preseason cuts.

“We were very surprised with the number of kids we had. Some of that is due to a new rule change that went into effect this year,” Barker said, noting the extension on junior Babe Ruth’s age deadline. “I’m not sure if that explains all of it, but I’m hopeful that more and more people are just excited about the prospect of playing baseball.”

The NKBR League is definitely excited about the prospect of hosting the 15-year-old district (June 30-July 2) and 14-year-old state (July 19-24) tournaments later this summer, as evident by the increased efforts to spruce up Snider Park.

First things first, the season opens today, while opening ceremonies will be held at 11:30 April 15.