Bridgeport North End Little League: My Site News

WELCOME BACK NELL:  This is the 1^st edition of the 2011 NELL News letter. Lots has happened since the end of last season. Most notably is the loss of two of our beloved NELL volunteers, Coach John Kardos (Rays) and former League President, Joe Sicsico. However, with loss comes new and dedicated league board members and the most exciting change has been our new league President, Scott Moutinho. As everyone has already seen, Scott has brought a renewed sense of pride and commitment to NELL baseball by revamping the entire concession stand and bringing in a small boat load of league sponsors to help financially support our league. The early returns on the stand have been nothing short of amazing.

This year also marks the first time the league has invited 4 year olds to participate in our new T-ball Clinic that runs on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays. Many thanks to the Artman family for supporting this clinic with a generous donation and commitment from Ronald Artman Jr. who is helping out as a coach.

For the first time, the league has also embarked on an ambitious interleague schedule not only in our lower Major division but also in our Junior Division. All 6 of our Major teams will play 4 interleague games this year against Park City Major teams and Black Rock Major teams. Our 1^st week of Interleague saw three of the four NELL teams post victories. Our Junior division of 13 and 14 year olds will play a 20 game schedule that has them traveling to Monroe, Fairfield, Park City, Redding and Easton as well as playing games against the 4 teams we put together from Black Rock and NELL.

Some upcoming events include Picture day this Saturday at NELL fields. Your team moms should have schedules for everyone along with the picture order form. Our City League Tournament will also be coming up on May 22 and will be held at NELL complex this year. Teams from Black Rock, Park City and Carribe will compete against a NELL team of 11 and 12 YO’s.

Our NELL clinics will begin this weekend as well. The 9/10 year old clinic will be held at the NELL field from 5 to 6:30 P. Our 11/12 year old clinic will be announced at a later time.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  NELL will be conducting a raffle again this year. 1^st prize is a 42 inch LCD television. 2^nd prize is a Weber Grill and there will be gift cards from Stop and Shop, Shell and Target stores. Jodi Everlith, our Volunteer Coordinator will be overseeing the raffle and will be distributing 1 book of 20 tickets to every player in our Lower and Junior divisions on Saturday. The hope is that each player can sell 1 book of 20 tickets at $2 per ticket. The league is in need of new field maintenance equipment and some of the proceeds from the raffle will help offset those cost. We are also hoping to reduce prices to play in NELL next year depending on the success of our fundraisers. As an incentive to sell tickets, our League President is donating 3 bikes, 1 for T-ball, Minor and Majors for the player that sells the most tickets from those divisions. Not to be outdone, our League VP will be donating a $50 Dicks gift card to the Jr. Division player that sells the most tickets. (Any ties will result in names being tossed in a hat and pulled for the winner of those prizes)

In our game action, the Reds upended the Rays in our 1^st game of the NELL season on 4/16, 11 – 4. Danny Homar and Timmy Welch split the game with 3 solid innings a piece for the Reds. Welch was also 2 for 2 at the plate. Welch and Homar combined for 16 K’s with Homar getting 9 and Welch with 7. On 4/18, The Reds shut out the Astros 6 zip behind an outstanding 77 pitch performance by Chris Mojica. Mojica also had 9 K’s in the game. Timmy Welch had 4 hits including three singles and a double for the Reds. Hunter Pinciaro threw 4 innings for the Stros in the loss. In an interleague game with the Park City Indians, the Phillies squeaked out a 9 – 8 victory. Blase Gintoli threw 3 innings for the Phils followed by Ean Turner, Chris Valez and Justyn Spencer going an inning each to seal the victory.

On 4/25, the Phillies snuck past the Astros 5 – 4 with Juan and Justyn Spencer combining for 6 innings in the victory. Marcus pitched a complete game in the loss for the Astros. On 4/26, the Yankees defeated the Reds 4 – 1 behind 5 outstanding innings pitched by Bobby Karosy. Karosy also fanned 13 in the game. Garnell Bell pitched the final inning to earn the save for the Yanks and also had a hit and run to lead the offense. Danny Homar pitched 4 innings of relief for the Reds and had 9 K’s. He was also 1 – 2 at the plate with the only run scored. On 4/27, the Yankees defeated the Park City Mets in interleague play 13 – 3. Joey Money pitched  3 2/3 innings to go along with 6 Ks, while Garnell Bell threw 1/3 of inning to wrap up the 10 run mercy rule win. Lenny Samultuski sparked the offense with 2 hits, 3 RBI’s and 3 runs scored. In another Interleague win for NELL, the Phillies jumped all over the Black Rock Giants 15 – 4. Blase Gintoli went 3 innings for the victory with Will Valasquez throwing an inning to mop up the win. Justyn Spencer hit a grand salami for his 1^st homer of the season to lead the offense. On 4/30, the Reds beat up the Rangers 13 – 3 with Chris Mojica and Danny Homar combining to keep the Ranger bats at bay. Homar was dominant in relief going 4 innings with no runs. Matt Reis was the offensive stand out going 3 for 3 on the day.

A reminder to coaches to submit their Game Log forms so that the games can be recorded in the NELL News letter. There were a number of missing forms from earlier games. Also, first and last names of players would be helpful.

As is tradition with NELL News, we would like to highlight several sponsors each week. Starting with Mark IV Construction that sponsors our Ranger team in the Major Division; Mark IV has contributed a great deal of financial resources as well as labor to revamp the concession stands and other upgrades around the NELL complex. We would also like to honor Executive Printing which sponsors our Minor division Whitesox. Benny Carrera is the manager of the Sox and owner of Executive. Much of NELL’s printing needs were donated by Benny. In our T-Ball Division, we would like to thank Recovery Network of Programs brought in by our Sponsor Director Carmen Cotto, which is sponsoring our Orioles. Please make sure to thank all of our league sponsors when you see them. Without them, NELL would not have a season of baseball.

A quick word about our concessions stand: we have a new and exciting menu with throw back prices. You can get a burger and fries on the cheap and trust me, they are delicious. Or you can try a Philly Steak Sandwich with grilled onions and peppers for reasonable 5 bucks. Check out for specials like the ziti and meatballs that were selling like hot cakes this past Saturday. Don’t forget our Dugout Snack Shoppe on the side for your sweet cravings and a hot pretzel.

No records were available for teams at press time. Look for them in coming editions of NELL news.

NELL SEASON IS ALL WET!!!!  Okay folks, when is the rain going to stop!!!!! Despite losing 2 to 4 games per team this season, we have actually played some games. My apologies to the Yankees and Phillies, who played a game on 4/30, but their game sheet was missing in action. In that game, the Yanks squeaked one out from the Phils, 7 – 6. Jorge Alvarez had 10 K’s for the Yanks in the win. Bobby Karosy was 3 – 3 at the plate with 3 runs. Joey Money was also 3 – 3 and had the game winning RBI. Jalon Bell went 1 1/3 innings to seal the win. On 5/2, The Reds tripped up the Rays, 12 – 9. The Reds were led by the double duo of Dan’s, that is Daniel Homar’s 3 hits and 3 runs scored and Daniel Allen’s 3 hits. On 5/5, The Yanks blitzed the Astros 10 Zip behind Garnell Bell’s 4 inning shut out to go along with 8 K’s. Bobby Karosy had 3 hits and game ending RBI.

On 5/7, The Red’s dumped the Astros 13 – 3. According to the sheet, Coach Paul Jackson was the outstanding player of the game. (Goodness!) On 5/7, the Yanks thumped the Rangers 6 – 1. Bobby Karosy had 16 K’s in the complete game win. Joey Money had 2 hits and 2 RBI’s to lead the Yankee offense. Scott Moutinho had the lone RBI for the Rangers on a deep triple to right center. The Phillies trumped the Rays in a nail bitter 8 – 7 in the third game of the day on 5/7. See the theme of umped! No pun intended. Outstanding players were Will Velazquez and Ean Turner for the Phillies and Chris Asencio for the Rays. On 5/9, the Reds outlasted the Phillies 9 – 7. The Astros upended the Rangers 8 – 7 on 5/10. Thomas Lindsay and Dennison Alfaro were the outstanding players for the Stros. In an Inter-league game against the Black Rock Marlins, the Yanks snuck in another win, 6 – 5. Jalon Bell went 3 strong innings and had 5 K’s. He also had the game winning hit. Joe Money pitched 2 innings in relief to record the win. Bobby Karosy dropped in 3 RBI’s to support the offense. On 5/12, The Yanks kept on their winning ways in a 8 – 2 thrashing of the Rays. Jorge Alvarez went 4 workmanlike innings and also had 8 K’s. Jacob Rivera had 2 RBI’s and had a strong defensive game including a perfect relay to the play to get a runner out.

On 5/14, the Yanks blanked the Reds 6 Nil behind a 68 pitch gem from Bobby “The King” Karosy. The King also stuck out 13 to help his cause. Garnell Bell led the offense with 2 hits and 3 runs scored. The Rangers got their first win of the season with an 8 – 4 win over the Rays. David “who was that” Gonzalez had 4 nifty innings to secure the win for the Rangers. Maliah Pabelbon was 2 – 3 to lead the Ranger offense. Christopher Peoples and Christopher Asecencio were the outstanding players for the Rays. In the only other game sheet, the Rangers picked up their 2^nd win in a row with a convincing 9 – 2 win. Scott “rookie” Moutinho went 4 + with 8 K’s in the win. Anthony Maldonado led the offense with a 3 – 3 performance with 2 doubles. Erickson Rodriguez was also 2 – 2 with a long triple. Gilberto Villegas was 2 – 4 with an RBI double.

That’s it for game action. In next week’s NELL news, there will be highlights from the 5^th annual City League Tournament. In other NELL news, clinics have started for the 9’s, 10’s, 11’s and 12’s. The league age 9’s will have their clinics on Saturday’s from 3 P – 5 P. The League age 10’s will be going this Saturday from 8 A – 9:30 A and the league age 11’s and 12’s will be going at 2 P – 4 P on Sunday. Also, lets hear it for our new T-Ball clinic for league age 4’s that have been going strong on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Saturday’s

IMPORTANT NOTE:  NELL’s annual raffle is underway. 1^st prize is a 42 inch LCD television. 2^nd prize is a Weber Grill and there will be gift cards from Stop and Shop, Shell and Target stores. Parents should return sold tickets to their team moms. If the team does not have one, please turn them into the manager. If anyone would like more tickets, please come to the field on Wednesday evening and we will give you more tickets to sell.

As is tradition with NELL News, we would like to highlight several sponsors each week.

M & F Auto Body Inc along with D & G Auto and Trailers are sponsoring two of our T-ball Teams, the Indians and Giants. M & F is a first time sponsor while D & G is a long time sponsor. Thanks to George Andriotis, owner of D & G who is also the manager of the Giants Team. We would also like to thank Cathy R’s Furniture, another long time sponsor for their donation this year to our Red Sox team in the Minor Division. Many thanks to the Merritt Canteen for their continued support of our league with the Reds benefitting this year from our Major Division. As always, our league gets a great deal of support from Tony Rod’s fencing for all of the repair work and new fencing that was added around our flag pole this year. 

Don’t forget to hit up our newly designed Concession Stand. We have a new and exciting menu with throw back prices. Whether you’re in the mood for some Chili Cheese Fries or a Shrimp Combo, you won’t be disappointed. And don’t forget the Dugout Snack Shoppe for all your drink needs and my personal favorite, a toasty hot pretzel.

NELL would also like to send the Kardos Family a very special thank you for the generous donation to the league on behalf of all of the families that made a donation to NELL on behalf of the late John Kardos Sr.. John managed our Rays team in the Major Division. NELL received over $1100 from donations made in honor of John Kardos Sr. In addition to the donation, the league has been extremely fortunate to have his son John Kardos Jr., not only step up and manage the Rays team, but has decided to manager our 11 year old star team as well.  

Below are the unofficial records for the Major Division to date. Managers will verify the records for the next NELL News.  

Team               Wins    Losses

Yankees:          9          0

Reds                7          2

Phillies             4          5

Rays                3          6

Astros              2          5

Rangers            2          6