The four-team league is made up of collegiate players and a few recent high school graduates. Save for some JCs, unlike most of their schools that use aluminum bats, the players will be swinging wood.

There will be familiar names. Hawai'i assistant Keith Komeiji will coach the Surfers; UH catcher Esteban Lopez will play for the Paniolos; and recent Kamehameha graduates Nick Freitas and David Parrow will play for the Aliis.

There also will be Hawai'i college players who play at Mainland schools. There also will be players who played against UH, such as San Jose State first baseman Brandon Fromm.

"This sounds real fun" Fromm said. "(Being) the first year, I want to be part of something special. Hopefully, it turns into a big collegiate summer league."

It's also special for Moanalua graduate Jim Strombach, an outfielder at Sacramento State.

"It feels good to be here for the summer instead of having to go back to the Mainland," said Strombach, who played in the Northwoods League in Minnesota last summer.

The experience isn't limited to just the players.

"It's a good experience for me, too," said Komeiji, who had coached the Island Movers for three summers over the years. "It's nice to get to run my own team."

San Joaquin Delta assistant Mike Buchmiller is coaching the Aliis after coaching last summer for Mat-Su of the Alaska League.

"What a better place to coach in the summer," he said.

The league will give Kamehameha's Freitas a taste of collegiate competition before he starts his own college career for the Miami Hurricanes.

"I'm not intimidated," Freitas said. "You just have to step up your game. That's what it's all about. Some advance from Little League to high school and some don't. Some go from high school to college, some don't. It's the same thing."

Although high schools here use aluminum bats, Freitas said he used wooden bats as recently as about two weeks ago during a Tampa Bay Devil Rays combine that tested potential draft prospects. He said the Rays were interested, but after he wasn't picked on the first day, he informed them not to use a pick on him because he was going to college.

The Mainland players in the league are housed at UH dormitories, but Freitas said he is staying at home. He added that he would be glad to show the Mainland players around the island.

San Jose State's Fromm has already taken in Waikiki and Makapu'u beaches. Although he has visited here twice when the Spartans played the Rainbows, he said SJSU coach Sam Piraro had a 10 p.m. curfew on trips here.

"Our coach kind of doesn't want us to see things," Fromm said with a laugh. "I've been here two days and already I've seen a lot more than I have in the two trips I've made with San Jose State."

Originally, there were no scheduled days off for the season, which ends July 23. But the league will have days off four Mondays starting June 20 and the Tuesday after July 4.

Komeiji said he will try to give all his players an equal number of at-bats and innings pitched. He noticed that a number of players had limited playing time with their respective teams.

"It's not a matter of winning or losing," he said. "It's just help them develop as players."

Komeiji also will coach three JC transfers heading to UH for next season in pitchers Tyler Davis and Danny Caldwell and infielder Jorge Franco. A fourth UH recruit, high school senior pitcher Matt Daly, has yet to report and his status for the league is not known.