News and Announcements
The Rays are managed by Hilltoppers Vice President Mike Van Cleave, who played and umpired with Winters when they were growing up in Clairemont back in the '70s. Winters graciously spent close to an hour with the kids, coaches and parents, answering questions, telling stories and letting the kids know how a former Hilltopper made it to the Major Leagues. His donation of umpire gear will also be put to good use by Hilltoppers umpires this season.
As a 19-year veteran Major League umpire, Winters has umpired in a number of playoff, World Series and All-Star games, and is looking forward to his 20th big league season in 2009. A charter member of the Hilltoppers Hall of Fame announced in 2006, he was also our guest on Opening Day in 2007, where we celebrated his accomplishments by retiring his number 33 (look for his banner on our outfield fence on the Padres field).
All of us at Clairemont Hilltoppers take great pride in having "one of our own" working in the Major Leagues. We look forward to future visits from Mike, and hope he can always be proud of being a Hilltopper.
Many thanks to all who came out Saturday, April 11 to support our annual Hilltoppers poker tournament fundraiser.
To all of the coaches, parents, friends and alumni who played: we hope you had a great time. To our dealers and the staff at the Best Western Seven Seas: we appreciate your efforts to make this run smoothly.
Congratulations to our big winner, Coach Justin Pallamary, who took home round trip airfare for two to Las Vegas. Congrats also to our other winners: Kirk Gillard, Denny Speidel, Dave Granfors, Kelly Grant, Chip Bonner, Henry Garnett and Jeff Pallulat. Prizes included Padres tickets, Trevor Hoffman and Andrew Cashner autographed items, dinner gift certificates and more.
Once again, a very fun evening!
Your last chance to tryout and be placed on a team for the 2009 season will be this Saturday, January 31. All players league age 7 or older must tryout in order to give coaches and league officials a method to evaluate players, allowing them to be placed in the proper division for their skill level, along with helping us to create balanced teams within our program.
This year's tryouts began on January 17, 2009. Junior division players (13- & 14-year-olds) tryout on January 24 & 31 only.
If you have any questions, please contact Player Agent Linda Camus at 858-270-5408.
• Please arrive approximately 15 minutes before your tryout time so you will have time to check in and warm up.
• You will be issued a tryout number when you check-in on tryout day
• Bring your glove and wear cleats if you have them.
• Tryouts will last approximately one hour.
TRYOUT TIMES:
8:30 a.m. – 7-year-olds
9:15 a.m. – 8-year-olds
10:00 a.m. – 9-year-olds
11:00 a.m. – 10-year-olds
12:00 p.m. – 11 & 12-year-olds
11:30 a.m. – 13 & older (Jan. 24 and 31 only)
In addition to tearing off the old roof, repairs were made to the structure along with replacing all of the old fascia boards. With the new roof installed over the Christmas holidays, it doesn't look much different than it did in the past, but it's in much better condition – and will no longer leak!
Many thanks to the Hilltoppers volunteers who gave of their time at what was already a busy time of year. Special thanks to our crew chief Martin Iniguez for his many hours of work on the project. Thanks also to Bill Salonius, Dave Granfors, Troy Keltner, Bob Faudoa, Joel LeBlanc, Chris Young, Mike Van Cleave, Pat Kinshofer, Aaron Granfors and Casey Granfors.
Pitch count regulationss have been modified by Little League Baseball for the 2008 season. Last year, for the first time, pitchers in all divisions of Little League, from age 7 to 18, had specific pitch limits for each game, based on their age. The number of pitches delivered in a game determined the amount of rest the player had to have before pitching again.
For all of Little League Baseball’s history, and for the history of amateur youth baseball in general, pitching regulations used innings pitched to determine pitcher eligibility. Recently, researchers and medical professionals in the field of sports medicine have been suggesting the actual number of pitches thrown (i.e., pitch count) is a safer way to regulate pitching in youth baseball.
Little League is the first national youth baseball organization to institute a pitch count. The Little League International Board of Directors approved the measure in August 2006.
The number of pitches allowable under the new regulation is based on the pitcher’s age. Specific rest periods are in place when a pitcher reaches certain thresholds of pitches delivered in a day. The table below gives an overview of the number of pitches that will be allowed for each age group during the 2008 regular season.
League Age Pitches allowed per day
17-18 …105
13-16 …95
11-12 …85
9-10 …75
7-8 …50
The rest periods required during the 2008 regular season are listed below.
Pitchers league ages 7 through 16 must adhere to the following rest requirements:
• If a player pitches 61 or more pitches in a day, three (3) calendar days of rest must be observed.
• If a player pitches 41 - 60 pitches in a day, two (2) calendar days of rest must be observed.
• If a player pitches 21 - 40 pitches in a day, one (1) calendar day of rest must beobserved.
• If a player pitches 1-20 pitches in a day, no calendar day of rest is required before pitching again.
• If a player pitches more than 41 pitches in a game, they must also have ONE GAME OF REST, regardless of how many days since their previous pitching.
• Any player removed as a pitcher is not allowed to play the position of catcher for the remainder of that game. This is designed to further prevent overuse injuries.
• "Automatic" intentional walks are no longer allowed. If a pitcher wishes to intentionally walk a batter, he/she must do so by throwing four pitches, which will count in determining pitch count.
Regulations for tournament play (all-stars) will be similar, but with some modifications. Those regulations will be released soon.
