The sounds of spring; the crack of the bat, the pop of a fastball hitting a mitt… the pounding of a trash can in an attempt to cheat.

Several youth baseball leagues across Southern California are dealing with the fallout from the major league cheating scandal by banning the name Astros from their teams this season.

The Houston Astros were caught employing video technology and a system of pounding trash cans in the dugout to signal to hitters what pitch was coming. The team’s manager and general manager were fired as a result of the scandal.

From Long Beach to East Fullerton, leagues are acknowledging, Houston, we have a problem.

In Long Beach, for example, the Minor B Astros finished third among 10 teams last season. The league’s executive board had informal talks in the offseason and put the word out that no one should ask to be the Astros this year.

A more permanent ban may be added to the league’s official bylaws next year.

“Parents are disgusted,” Long Beach Little League president Steve Klaus said. “They are disgusted with the Astros and their lack of ownership and accountability. We know there’s more to this scandal. What’s coming tomorrow? With the Astros, you’ve got premeditated cheating.”

Long Beach has 560 players and 48 teams. Several years ago, they dropped the names Braves and Indians because they didn’t want their players to wear images of Native Americans on their jerseys.

“Our mission statement has the words ‘character’ and ‘integrity,’” Klaus said. “It’s hard to develop integrity and character when you see (cheating) at the top level.”

Aaron Peterson, the father of one of the Long Beach players, said he’s glad no players will run out on opening day with Astros across their chest.

“They cheated to win the World Series, and it was a rally bad scene overall,” Peterson said. “It sends the message that if you cheat, you can win. I don’t know if the punishment was strong enough.”

His son agreed.

“I don’t think it’s right to represent a team that’s been cheating,” said Mick Peterson, 11. “The Dodgers got robbed. It’s not fair.”

As you can tell …

“This is Dodgers country,” Klaus said.

The Astros beat the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series. And later, the Astros were discovered to have been cheating during those games.

The Astros name also was banned in East Fullerton.

“Our league received negative feedback from parents who felt Astros name was equated with impropriety,” said Greg Taylor, president of East Fullerton Little League.

Families from his league will be visiting Angel Stadium this year to see … you guessed it.

“Ironically, our district chose Astros vs. Angels game on April 5 for our annual event at Anaheim Stadium in our October planning meeting,” Taylor said. “We have heard from several anxious parents about players being exposed to inappropriate/unruly behavior.”

In the East Fullerton league, two teams swapped the Astros name for the White Sox and Orioles. That’s interesting because in 1919, the White Sox were caught gambling, and several players were banned from baseball.

Not all leagues banned the name Astros.

At Orangecrest Little League in Riverside, scandals in the major leagues don’t trickle down to the youth players.

“Our Board did not have any discussions around limiting availability of any team names outside of what was available from our uniform vendor,” said league president Bret Varner. “Issues that occur at the Major League level would not have any impact on our uniform decisions. Our decisions are based upon the available options from our vendor and team interests within our local community.”

Leagues from around the United States are dealing with the fallout from the scandal. Twitter has several references to Little League teams changing names.

Just found out that the team called the Astros from my son’s little league changed their name to the Oriolesb/c of the cheating scandal. – @cookandsonbats

When a manager in our Little League asked to be the Astros our league’s equipment manager refused. They’re now the Padres. – @deronbos

Some tweets were funny and creative.

I think fair punishment for the Astros would be to make them recite the little league pledge before every game – @J_Mat3