News and Announcements
Minutes of the January 14 meeting of the OTS Board
The meeting was held in the Ocean View Town Hall on January 14, 2004. League President Gary Meredith presiding. All 2003 Teams were represented along with the officers and a few players.
Plans for the fund raising spaghetti dinner were discussed. Tickets have been sent with the 2004 registration materials. Each is asked to sell four tickets. 450 are the planning number. We will request the use of the lower level, if the need arises. There will be two seatings. One at 4:30 and the other at 6:00pm. All OTS players attending are asked to help either in the setup early dinner phase or the late dinner clean up phase. Sal Corrallo will be collecting names over the next few months. Be prepared to sign up at the February 18 General meeting to be held in the Bethany Beach Town Hall at 7:00 PM. Gary will collect fees for both events. There will also be two 50-50 drawings. One drawing will be held for the early seating and another for the late seating. Posters will be distributed at the February 18 meeting.
Treasurer Bill Neyen will draw up an operating budget for 2004. It will not include one-time capital expenses such as the Millsboro field improvement work. He will also order extra home scoring plates and strike plate extensions.
Gary reported that the insurance for 2004 season has been paid. However OTS teams have not been registered with the Amateur Softball Association as yet. The league will follow ASA rules for 2004. A .44 yellow optic ball will be used on a trial bases for 2004. Bats banned by ASA will not be allowed.
Sponsors for teams are still being solicited. Three teams currently have a sponsor. (VFW 7234, one of our longest and biggest supporters, is one of them) Five more sponsors are being solicited. Archie Alexander showed the plaque presented to sponsors. It includes a Jersey, a Senior Olympic Medal, and a certificate. Sponsors are also to be listed on the OTS web page with additional information on their business. A link to their web page, if any, will also be included in the $300.00 contribution. Contact Archie at 302 226 8381, if you have any hot leads. Archie also discussed publicity plans for 2004, including leaflets to be distributed through churches, Mediacom and Comcast announcements, newspaper articles and TV station spots.
The Board spent a considerable amount of time going over and amending the league by laws. A Revised Version will be posted within a week (by January 21) on the web site under Handouts. The by-laws may be downloaded and printed. Hard copies will be available for those without an Internet connection and will be available at the Feb 18 meeting.
The league will again play on Tuesday and Friday. It is uncertain where games will be played at this time. Spring training will be a problem as all players come together. However it was suggested that we use the new Sports at the Beach on Route 9 south of Georgetown for April 6 opening of spring training since Millsboro is the only place available but is too small for that month. Arrangements are being made to use three fields so that all players may come at the same time. No work has been done on the Millsboro Field. The contract calls for work to be completed by the end of February. Practice continues on Tuesday and Friday when the temperature and/or wind chill is 45 degrees or more. League play will begin on May 4.
The next meeting of the Board will be in Feburary to consider team makeup and playing fields to be used.
The Officers and Managers/Assistant Managers met on DEC 3 at 9:00 am in the Ocean View Town Hall on West Street Ocean View. A brief report follows.
1. The fund raising Spaghetti Dinner will be held on April 16 2004 at the VFW Post in Ocean View, the same location as last year. The cost is $8.00 for adults and $3.00 for children under 12. It begins at 4:30 goes on until 7:00pm. Each OTS member will be provided with four tickets to sell. OTS members will be asked to serve on the organizing committee and at the dinner. Members are asked to let Sal Corrallo know of your availability. Tickets and flyers are being prepared. They will be sent out with the 2004 registration materials in January. Vicki York of Remax Realtors will again have the tickets printed and donated to OTS. All monies raised will go into the OTS General Fund for use as necessary. More later.
2. 2004 registration letters will be sent in January to all 2002 and 2003 registered athletes. The fee will remain at $45.00. Players are asked to return their forms by February 15, 2004. There will be a general meeting of all players on Feburary 18 in the Bethany Beach Town Hall beginning at 7:00 pm to go over plans for the 2004 season.
3. The league will again be play by the rules of and be insured by the American Softball Association. Gary Meredeth will file the papers for 2004. As a result the balls to be used for 2004 will have a core of .44 instead of .47. The color of the ball will be optic yellow. The remaining unused .47 balls will be used in practice. Only ASA approved bats will be allowed. ((Note see the latest information on approved and disapproved bats in another news item.)
4. A report on the work to be done on the M&T Field was presented by Ron Weber. He said the contractor has promised the work will be done by February 1, 2004. The contract for $1200 has been signed by all parties. New bases will be installed and a plywood board will be made for home plate extended. Ron is also planning on doing some work in the outfield once the infield is resurfaced. Players will be asked to assist him. Players are asked to let him know if they are willing to help. (Call him at 537-2004.)
5. Archie Alexander again noted the sponsors are needed at $300.00 per team. One day league team, the Grey team, is sponsored by the VFW. In addition to placing their name on the Jersey, they will be cited on the web pages with their business information and address, phone number and web site. Players are encouraged to let Archie know of interested sponsors. (Phone number 226-8381).
6. A brief discussion was held on the number and make up of teams for 2004. No decision has been made as the process for organizing teams. A final decision will probably not be made until mid-April when the number of returning and new players can be determined. A brief discussion was also held on the use of playing fields. The M&T Field is the only field available that meets the tournament playing field standards, for example to the Delaware Senior Olympics. No decision was made on fields for 2004.
7. The next meeting of the Officers and Managers will be held on January 14, 2004 at 9:00 am in the Ocean View Town Hall. Player ratings and playing rules will be discussed.
The Officers/Managers in their meeting of October 22 agreed to follow ASA rules for 2004. This includes the use of equipment (bats and balls) and rules of play unless amended for OTS Play. A copy of the 2003 OTS Rules and Regulations is available for printout in the Handouts Section of this web page. The Rules and Regulations for 2004 will be considered in future meetings of the group. Comments from all are welcome. Give them to your manager or one of the officers.
Managers (first)and Assistants(second) for 2004 are as follows:
Blue Team: Bo Wood and John Bokop
Gold Team: Don Clements and Ron Weber
Green: Jim Stradley and George Towsen
Grey: Pete Rendina and Neil Fleming
Orange: Ray Myers Sr and Dick Bowman
Maroon: George Slack and Wayne Smith
Red: Bob Schaeffer and Joe Cavalluzzo
New Team?: Richard Berry
Tournament managers will be named later.
Player ranking by managers were distributed for review to all in attendance and will be finalized at a later meeting.
Draft rules for the 2004 team formations (including the drafting of players) will be developed and made available for discussion at a later meeting.
It was also agreed that OTS will accept sponsorship for a team for a fee of $300.00. Sponsors will be given recognition on the players jersey and on the web site for 2004.
It was also agreed that the very successful fund raising spaghetti dinner held in April 2003 should be continued. Pete Rendina was asked to get approval from the VFW Post to again host the event. Pete will work on the dinner but would prefer another person be appointed chairperson. Anyone wishing to serve should be a member of the VFW Post.
