OPENING DAY-thanks to Susan Ullman and our Opening Day Team including volunteers Linda Geen, Krista Schauer, Luke Albee and Preston Read. The festivities were a complete success thanks to all of you who attended. We are particularly grateful for those who contributed to our equipment drive. We also collected over $500 in cash for the Neediest Kids-Bridge to Success Program. If you were unable to make it out for this big event, check out our website for highlights including the first pitch of the season thrown out by our very own Mayor Fenty, as featured on the front page in the April 16, 2008 edition of the Northwest Current. The President’s Opening Remarks will also be featured on the web and include participant information as well as the league’s current accomplishments and future goals.
NEW DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR-Little Leagues in the Washington, DC area have a new District Administrator. His name is Paris Inman. Words cannot express how fortunate we are to have such a dedicated administrator whose goal is to bring softball and baseball into all communities across the city and, in particular, to those “at risk” youth who may not otherwise have the chance to play ball. CCLL is actively participating in all of the planning meetings to get this citywide effort off the ground and running. Our equipment drive was, in part, to support his efforts.
EQUIPMENT DRIVES-There will be two more softball and baseball equipment drives, one at Guy Mason on April 24-26 (additional information will be received in a broadcast e-mail) and another equipment drive at the new Nationals stadium April 25-27. Your team managers and coaches will be letting you know how you can volunteer to help out with this drive at the Nationals Stadium. .
RESERVE YOUR TICKETS NOW FOR OUR SPRING SEASON FINALE-CapCity night at Bethesda Big Train will be on June 21, 2008 at 7:30 pm. The Bethesda Big Train is a collegiate summer baseball team that plays 25 home games at Shirley Povich Field in Cabin John Regional Park. The Washington Post calls Big Train baseball at Povich Field “the ultimate small town fantasy.” We have 150 FREE tickets on a first-come basis. Please e-mail David Schauer ASAP at daschauer@comcast.net to reserve your tickets. A flyer will be posted on our website for addition al information. This should prove to be a great night-a wonderful family oriented baseball experience. All players should wear their CapCity Little League uniforms.
SPRING SEASON PREPARATIONS-March was spent getting ready for our opening day on April 12, 2008. Some of our activities included: obtaining field permits, ordering new equipment and uniforms, assessing field maintenance needs, conducting background checks on our volunteers, processing player registrations, and updating the website. Our league is now at capacity and we will be looking for other field space for future use. The season began on April 12, 2008 and ends June 12, 2008.
WEBSITE UPDATES-all game schedules can be accessed on our website. Other website updates include a list of all teams, divisions and field locations. Board updates and photos are featured too. We also have information about softball/baseball skills clinics, tournaments as well as summer camp activities. We are deeply grateful for Lynne Filderman who, on her own time, manages our website on a regular basis. Other news and information will routinely be added as our spring season commences.
MAJOR LEAGUE DRAFTS-Our Major League drafts were held on Sunday, March 9 and Saturday, March 15. We drafted approximately 24 new Major League players. Congratulations to them all and a thank you to Steve Agostino, Major Division Commissioner/Cubs Manager and Mark Velleca, our CCLL Player Agent, for making all the draft arrangements.
PCA CLINICS-In March and April, three clinics, run by the Positive Coaching Alliance, were held-two clinics for our league coaches (March 20 and April 3) and one for our league parents (April 10). Under the training of Brendan Sullivan, these clinics were a tremendous success. Thank you all for attending and a thank you to board member Mike Morris for arranging the clinics for our league. We will be posting monthly PCA updates on our website throughout the season.
SPONSORS-For the very first time in its history, CCLL has team sponsors. You will see their names on our team uniforms and their logos on our website. A big thanks to our sponsors and if you are interested in sponsoring a team in the fall, please watch for our next fall 2008 season “call for sponsors.” Let us help your business grow as you help our league to grow.
CAPCITY ALUMNI-The following former CCLL baseball players are now playing college baseball: Will Krasne (Stanford University); Mike Sheridan (College of William and Mary); Ian Horkley (Davidson College); Ben Sestanovich (Harvard University); Daniel White (Kenyon College). This is not a complete list. If anyone has additional information about other players, please pass it along and we will make note of their accomplishments.
