Admonished by a state Little League official for violating their charter and facing public opposition, members of the College Station Little League board decided Thursday to abandon plans to switch to another youth baseball organization.

About 80 people crammed into a meeting room in the College Station Conference Center on Thursday night for the board's regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Before guests were allowed to speak, CSLL President Craig Reed announced the decision to maintain College Station's decades-long affiliation with Little League.

Seven of the eight members of the board met earlier Thursday with Little League Texas East coordinator Jerrell Weir of Brenham, who told them that the board's November vote to switch affiliations to Nations Baseball violated the league charter. Weir also said the board's 2008 election was improper and ruled that 11 board positions filled during that vote are vacant.

Reed said the board has dropped plans for a team league sanctioned by Nations Baseball this spring. That league would have allowed players from all around the Brazos Valley to play on teams without regard to Little League rules for player drafts and boundaries.

"We did some things wrong," Reed said. "We apologize for the frustration and [to] anybody we might have offended, but it wasn't done in malice or intentionally. We now understand as a board that the best thing for College Station youth baseball is to be in the Little League program."

Reed's announcement, along with an admonishment from Weir about the "viciousness" stirred by the planned move, seemed to calm the mood in the room. Several visitors still took advantage of their opportunity to speak, some praising the virtues of Little League and others supporting board members and thanking them for their service.

Two uniformed officers from the Brazos County Sheriff's Office attended the meeting for security reasons, but there were no confrontations or shouting.

The public portion of the meeting ended after about an hour. Board members then moved to another room with several visitors who volunteered to choose a committee to nominate candidates to fill the 11 board positions ruled vacant because those members were selected improperly last year.

New board members will be elected at a meeting Jan. 22.

"We've got to have a new beginning," Weir said. "If it's ever going to be, tonight is it. As far as I know, we're going to have Little League as normal. I signed all these [board members] to as close to an oath as I could at a Little League meeting. If they ever have any thought of doing anything else, they're obligated to resign on the spot."

CSLL board members voted 17-1 in November to switch to Nations Baseball after the 2009 season. They said the move was necessary to stem the tide of players leaving CSLL to play on tournament teams and to allow kids to compete against players of similar skill levels.

"I think mixing the kids by ability level is very important," said Courtney Wellmann, a Little League mother who spoke to the board. "I think a kid who doesn't know a lot about baseball has a chance to improve his skills. I think a kid who knows a lot about baseball has a chance to become a leader."

Several people who played, coached or umpired in College Station Little League games expressed their gratitude for the decision to maintain the affiliation. One of the most passionate speakers was Summer Zimmerman, whose parents were Little League volunteers and whose daughter played in the Major Baseball division in College Station in the spring.

"I've never tried to belittle anyone, but I've tried to make it abundantly clear that what was going on here was wrong," Zimmerman said. "I'm not going to see the demise of something that so many people, over so many generations, have worked so hard to build for this community."

Board member Sam Seale said he hopes the controversy over the proposed change will lead more people to take an active role in College Station Little League.

"At this point, you've got to put away any bruised egos or personal things," Seale said. "If you want to have a 2009 season, and future seasons, for Little League baseball, you've got to suck it up and mend fences."