Registration for our 2014 baseball season is underway. The NEAA is proud to sponsor baseball for boys and girls ages 4-21! Please go to neaabaseball.org to sign up.
Here is a list of our programs:
T-Ball (recommended ages 4 & 5 but we will be flexible based on ability shown at the baseball field): This is a wonderful program headed up by Jim Carey with assistance from Chris Wells and others. Last year’s T-Ball was a smashing success as children and parents alike all had a great time and learned some basic skills. T-Ball takes place Sundays at 10am at Langone Park. We typically start in Mid-April (weather permitting) and run thru the end of June
Minor Leagues (recommended ages 6-8 but we will be flexible based on ability shown at the baseball field): Our minor league program has 4 teams of a dozen players who face live pitching either by our pitching machine or by the coaches. The Mudcats will return coaches Pat McDonough and Bill Woods and the Muckdogs will have coaches Chris Wells and Jim Carey. The Raptors will have Mike Kelly and Jon Soto and the Grasshoppers will be coached by John Pregmon. Minor League typically plays Mon-Thurs at 5:30 starting in the beginning of April and completing at the end of June. There are a couple of Saturday games in there as well for opening and closing day.
Major Leagues ages 9-12: Our Majors Program has 4 teams of a dozen players who play 4 games each against the other 3 teams in our league and also face off against the HillHouse Major’s Program and the South End Program in All-Star Games. In addition we field two post-season all-star teams to compete in city tournaments. For our 9 and 10 years old we play in the Mayors Cup that typically takes place two weekends in July under Dan Shea’s leadership. For our 11s and 12s we play in the inner-city league that runs in July and August under Al Vilar’s leadership. Our Major’s Program starts with a skills clinic run by Chuck Bilikas that runs March and April (weather permitting) at 5:30 and then our regular season starts with games Mon-Sat. Weekday games are 5:30pm. Fri is 5:30pm and 7:30pm and Sat is 1:00pm and 3:30pm. The Tigers will be coached by Darren Costa and Luigi Natale. The Cubs will be coached by Dan Shea and Dom Campochiaro. The Indians will be coached by Al Vilar and Mike Szulc. The Cardinals head coach will be Dennis LaColla and he will be assisted by Vin Sablone, and John D’Amico.
Junior Dodgers ages 13-15: Our Junior Dodgers program will play in the 13-15 RBI League and the 13-14 Lou Tompkins All-Star baseball league (go toltabaseball.com for details). This team also plays a home and home series with our sister city in North Adams. This involves a weekend away (July 25-26) to play ball and then a weekend where the North Adams team comes to our park (Aug 9th-10th). It is a fantastic experience every year. The Dodgers will be led by head coach Dom DiCenso. Assisting Dom will be Darren Costa, John Pezzuto and Stephen Passacantilli. This is an all-star team consisting of our top 13-15 year old players that plays other teams from the Boston area and areas north. This team will be selected after tryouts. It will be a highly competitive team so please only sign up in you are 100% committed to playing baseball. We are also discussing the possibility of combining with a South End team to field a 15-16 year old Tompkins Team. Stay tuned for more details.
Senior Dodgers ages 16-21: Our Senior Dodgers will play in the 16-18 year old RBI league (some 15s will be on this team) and the Under 21 Tompkins league. This team is coached by Ralph Martignetti, Chuck Bilikas and Frank Iudiciani Sr. This is an all-star team consisting of our top 16-21 year old players that plays other teams from the Boston area and areas north. This team will be selected after tryouts. It will be a highly competitive team so please only sign up in you are 100% committed to playing baseball.
We have also partnered with the Brighton Girls RBI Softball Teams. Stay tuned for more details but we are planning to offer softball to interested girls, only, so they can play both baseball and softball during the spring and summer months.
I am also happy to announce that Daniel Toscano has agreed to take on the role as Assistant Commissioner. In that role Daniel will focus on our programs for ages 12 and under while Commissioner Ralph Martignetti will focus more on 13 and over but also stay intricately involved in the 12 and under as well.
I know it’s cold out but we are actually only two months away from the start of our clinic so please sign up as soon as you can!
At the early years of our programs we aim to create an environment that fosters the love of baseball, learning how to play the game and the enjoyment of the game. Winning is secondary up to age 12. As your child moves up the ladder of our program the emphasis begins to shift more to winning. This begins to happen at the 13 year old level. Once your child is here we are training them to be ready to play in high school, college and maybe beyond. We hope to have your continued support at all levels of baseball.
The NEAA offers these fabulous programs at the most affordable fees imaginable. Our programs for ages 4 to 12 are only $35 per player. The fee for ages 13 and up are $50 per player. Checks can be made out to the NEAA and mailed to:
NEAA
c/o John Romano
30 North Bennet Street
Boston, Mass. 02113
No child will ever be left out due to the in ability to pay our registration fee – you can contact me at jromano45@gmail.com.
If you would like to make a donation to the NEAA baseball program to support our opening day extravaganza, checks of any amount can be made out to the NEAA and sent to the address listed above.
We look forward to another great season and can’t wait to see you all down the park – PLAY BALL!!!
John Romano
NEAA Baseball Coordinator
