Let’s play ball!
Our recent weather makes it hard to imagine that baseball season is quickly approaching. Frigid temperatures, snow covered baseball fields and icicles in the dugouts bare no evidence of the fast paced activity behind the scenes.
Many volunteers have been working on a variety of tasks that keep the League operating like a well-oiled machine. It would be very difficult to list all the activities that have been in progress the past couple of months so I’ll list only a representative few - the League safety plan, finances, fundraisers, registration, uniforms, field maintenance and improvement plans, concession, player assessments and communications. Even with all the hours dedicated to the success of our League thus far, there is still a lot of work in front of
us and have many opportunities for anyone who may want to help.
Our League is formed from the people of our community to serve our youth by providing an avenue for a positive baseball/softball experience for any child who wants to participate. Many of the values we try to teach our children through the game of baseball and softball have been demonstrated by our volunteers as they have worked on our many activities. The talents, teamwork, dedication, cooperation and creativity from our all our volunteers have been
outstanding to date and truly reflect the abilities of all the people who make up our community.
The success of our League depends on all of us. Whether you can help a little or a lot, we can use your talents and it will be greatly appreciated. Please indicate your desire to volunteer by filling out the volunteer application during registration or contact a member of the Board or Auxiliary. Either way we’ll be sure to contact you and offer an opportunity to get involved.
Butler Area Baseball & Softball is looking forward to a great year in 2009. We will continue to strive to provide the best baseball and softball experience for the development of our children and the love of the game. Most important of all – our kids should have a blast!! See you at the field!!
A Note From the League President...
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
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Opening Day announcement
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2
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Upcoming Fundraiser Info
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3
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Board & Committee Listings
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4
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BUSINESS NAME
COVERING THE BASES
A newsletter to keep YOU informed
about what’s happening in YOUR league!
SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST:
- ? A note from the league president, Jeff Seger
- ? An auxiliary committee has been formed — see how you can help!
New AUXILIARY Committee Formed
The Butler Twp./Meridian Baseball Auxiliary Committee would like to welcome you to the 2009 baseball season! This new committee has been formed to improve communication throughout the season, to plan many fundraisers and league activities, and to make our league stronger overall. We encourage all parents to join the Auxiliary Committee.
We have many events scheduled for our players this year. We encourage you to get involved with the Auxiliary Committee in some way. There are many sub-committees that need chairpersons and volunteers. Our league has grown and our need for volunteers has grown as well.
Please review the volunteer
opportunities and sign up to help! Your time is precious to us and we appreciate it. If you have an interest in the newly formed Auxiliary Committee, please don’t hesitate to contact Linda Patten or Renee Lyon.
Thank you,
The Butler Baseball Association Auxiliary Committee
We encourage you to get involved with the Auxiliary Committee in some way.
January, 2009
This newsletter
is sponsored by:
( see our back page for their business card and information)
PAGE 2
Field Maintenance
Since the merge of Meridian Baseball and Butler Township Base-ball, we now have 8 fields to maintain. We are very fortunate to have some of the nicest facilities in the area for our kids to play on. We will be using five separate facilities for the 2009 season. These include St. Fidelis
Fields in Meridian, Adelman Fields in South Butler, Highfield, Oak Hills Church Field (for fast pitch softball) and the Connoque-nessing field for Colt and Legion. In order for these facilities to re-main a safe and enjoyable place for our kids to practice and play, countless hours each year are put into maintenance and up-keep. This includes grass cutting, weed-
eating, field prep, painting, emptying trash cans, hanging signs, sweeping dug outs...and the list goes on and on. We will be scheduling spring clean-up days and would greatly appreci-ate all the help we can get. We will also be looking for volunteers who can be called on to help with this sometimes overwhelming workload. If you’re interested, in helping please e-mail Tim Lyon at tslyon@zoominternet.net. Even a mere 20 minutes of your time can be a great help!
COVERING THE BASES
Let’s Play Ball…
Opening Day set for April 18
Mark your calendars! Opening Day will be quickly upon us…imilar to years past, we hope to have community volunteers/heroes attend our ceremonies at Adelman Field. Players and siblings may be able to inspect a police car, ambulance, or fire truck right on our fields!
We will have Butler Township / Meridian Baseball T-shirts, team hats and other spirit wear for sale. Come ready to begin the season with your baseball spirit!
New this year...TEAM PARENTS!
In an effort to help the coaches be coaches and spend more time on the field with our kids, the league is establishing ?eam Parents?to assist with the duties of keeping a team organized. Now, this is not the same as the team manager who organizes lines-ups and so on, but rather the team parent will help to collect and distribute such things as the
raffle tickets, newsletter, uniforms, fundraiser forms, team pictures, etc.
Please seriously consider helping out your child’s team by volunteering to be the team parent! We really need everyone’s help to get more organized this year and you just might be the person to do it!
ATTENTION ALL GIRLS!
GREAT NEWS! Softball is expanding our age groups this year! We are accepting 18 and under to hopefully expand to have an 18 and under team. We are also expanding to accept 5, 6, and 7 year olds to have an instructional league. Previously our 5, 6 and 7 year olds have played in the baseball program with coach pitch otherwise known as t-ball. We have teams from other areas in our league that they will get to play. They can
possibly experience some tournament play. This means altogether we would now have an 18U team, 16U team, 12U team, 10U team and an 8U team. There is always so much to do, so if you are available to help out in any way, we would welcome it with open arms! We have many areas you can help with, such as uniforms, concession stand, fundraisers, coaching and many others. See you at signups!
—Sheri Knox, Softball Coordinator
FARM League ........... Monday, February 16 ................. 7:30—9:30 pm
MINOR League ......... Wednesday, February 18 ........... 7:30—9:30 pm
LITTLE League ......... Monday, February 23 ................. 7:30—9:30 pm
Evaluations will be held at the
Butler County Community College in the Fieldhouse.
Player Evaluation Dates Set
Registration will be done and over with before we know it and it will be time for player evaluations. If you have a child playing in one of the following age brackets, please mark your calendars with the following dates:
W e are so excited to be holding our 2nd Annual Easter Egg Hunt again this year! If you were lucky enough to join us last year, you will remem-ber what a great time the kids and parents had coming together to hunt eggs and do a little ?atching up?about what they all had been up to all winter.
The cost will be $5.00 per child this year, which includes an Easter basket and up to 15 filled eggs (the basket and eggs are yours to keep)! Special drawings will be held and the concession stand will be open ready to sell those famous cheese fries that you’ve waited for ALL winter. Plan on joining us for this great day — the Easter Bunny will be waiting for you!
When you registered your child/children for the upcoming season, you should have received and paid for your raffle tickets. Once you sell your tickets, you keep the money you collect, thus reducing the cost of your registration. The ticket stubs with the buyer’s name should be turned in to your team parent by April 11, A WEEK BEFORE opening day, in order to qualify for the drawing. The winning tickets will be drawn on opening day and announced in upcoming newsletters!
Raffle Tickets
PAGE 3
Our pepperoni roll/pizza kit/cookie dough sale will be held once again this year to benefit improvements to our fields and facilities. Please mark your calendars for the following dates: order forms for the sale will be distributed at the start of team practices, and the final day to turn in orders will be Opening Day, April 18.
Delivery date is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2009.
Fundraiser Dates Set
COVERING THE BASES
Saturday, March 28, 2:00 p.m. at the Meridian Fields
Butler Baseball Easter Egg Hunt
Butler Twp/Meridian
In 2008, we held our first Easter Egg Hunt to help raise money for our league! 175 kids participated!
Butler twp/meridian baseball
Fundraiser Night
WHEN: Monday, FEBRUARY 9 —AND— Thursday, FEBRUARY 26
4:00 — 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Pizza Hut (West Cunningham St. Location ONLY!)
Bring this flyer to the Pizza Hut and of your
ENTIRE purchase will be donated back to our LEAGUE.
H elp Support Our League
While Enjoying A Great Meal With Friends!
Would your business or family like to sponsor the next newsletter? For a cost of $20 your business card or family name will be listed in the league newsletter as the sponsor. This is being done to help keep the cost of publicizing a league newsletter to a minimum. Don’t have $20 to donate, but would love to participate? Then maybe your business or workplace would like to volunteer to do the copying of one of our upcoming newsletters. It would require you making about 500 (possibly double-sided) copies. If you’re inter-ested in helping out in one of these ways, please contact your team parent or Renee Lyon at 724-482-9246.
PAGE 4
Equipment finds...new and used!
If your youngster is just starting to learn the game of baseball, trying to find the right equipment for the little guy or gal can be tough if you don’t know where to begin. For the coach pitch age, Wal-Mart and Target have great deals on starter bats and gloves, but once your kids start moving up through the older age groups, finding equipment at a reasonable price can be difficult.
Do you have any used equipment that
your child has grown out of, but it’s still in good enough condition for someone else to use? Here’s an opportunity to post an ad in an upcoming newsletter by calling Renee Lyon (724-482-9246) and she’ll make sure it’s advertised for FREE!
Still don’t want to buy used equipment and would rather shop the big-name stores? Sign up for the Dick’s Sporting Goods ScoreCard program and receive great coupons for $10 off $50 or more (once you’ve earned the reward) and additional coupons for the
upcoming season for baseball equipment. You can also visit www.couponalbum.com and find coupons for all sorts of sports equipment on websites. Ebay and Play it Again Sports are other great ways to find used equipment.
If you’re not sure what equipment your child needs, ask your coach and see if he has any information to offer. And check the internet—there are many articles that will give you help in finding what you need.
COVERING THE BASES
Communications ................ Renee Lyon
Concessions .................. Kelly Michalek
Joyce Slomers
Fundraising ....................Kelly Kowalski
Marie Bellis
Pre/Post-Season
Coordinators ..................... Linda Patten
Maureen Gross
Uniforms............................. Donna Friel
Mary Ford
Auxiliary Committee…
Can you Sponsor a League Newsletter?
President ........................... Jeff Seger
Vice-President ............. Mike Kowalski
Secretary ....................... Dan Slomers
Treasurer .......................... Curt Gross
Managers Agent ............. Daryl Patten
Player Agents ............... Dan Michalek
........................................... Dan Lynn
Safety Officer ................... Jerry Gilkey
Information Officer ......... Ron Thomas
Grounds/Maintenance .......... Tim Lyon
Board Members ..............Dan Reamer
John Baranchak
Board Officers & Committee Chairs...
NEXT AUXILIARY MEETING…Tuesday, February 3, 7:00 p.m. at the St. Fidelis building.
Are you curious about how much it costs to run our league of approximately 500 kids? Did you ever wonder how much a Port-A-Potty costs to rent for one week? Did you ever wonder how much we pay for a dumpster from Vogel for one week? In upcoming issues of ?overing the Bases?it is our intent to keep you informed
of the finances happening within our league —umpire costs, field maintenance, conces-sion stand profits and expenses, fundraiser profits, and so on— essentially what it costs to successfully run our league in a safe and enjoyable manner.
Please watch for future articles in upcoming newsletters — our goal is to keep you informed!
Our League Finances
Primarily Kids Preschool
1329 N. Main Street, Butler, PA 16001 (724-287-4325)
Licensed by the State Department of Education
Call now - classes filling fast
Bright Beginners, Pre-Kindergarten &
Transition-to-Kindergarten classes available
Tammi Delano – Owner, Director & Teacher
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