Colonial East Ltd.

Due to the rain and wet fields, all practice sessions are canceled for Tuesday, 4/8.

Practice resumes on Thursday per the Practice Schedule. 

Monday, March 31st was a busy afternoon and evening for OTS. Three meetings were held at the Bethany Beach Town Hall - the Executive Committee meeting, the Board of Directors meeting and the Annual meeting.

Minutes from these three meetings can be found on the Meeting Minutes webpage.

Here's a summary:

Several changes were made to the By-Laws:

1. Base paths were extended to 70' (used to be 65').
2. Time limits on games were eliminated. All 7 innings will be played unless the manager of the losing team chooses to concede the game. In hot weather, speed up rules will be enforced - no infield ball after the 1st inning, limited warm up pitches and a little extra hustle getting on and off the field.
3. The last Wednesday of every month during the season will be scheduled for rain make-ups.
4. A new Code of Conduct was added.
5. Game times will not start earlier after July 4th as in past years. The first games will be scheduled at 9:00 a.m. for the entire season.
6. Illegal bat rules were clarified.
7. Tiebreaker rules for the end-of-season tournament seeding were enhanced.
8. A new position on the Executive Committee was added. The Information Officer will maintain the league website, maintain a repository for leagu documents, assist the Vice President in schedule and serve as a back-up to the league Secretary. Tom Wendorf was appointed by the Executive Committee to fill this position for an interim term.
9. Change from ASA to SS-USA rules as guidelines for the league with the exception of rules pertaining to bats.
10. Teams will now be required to keep a scorebook for their own team. Keeping the scorebook for the opposing team is optional.
11. Batters will start with a 0 - 1 count (no balls, one strike).

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

March 31, 2014

Present: Bo Wood, Harry Gowl, Keith Purdy, Dick Mullins, Tom Wendorf, Jesse Bare, Johnny Allen, Grady Meredith, Dave Sroka, Pat Sherry, Mike Bahr (voting for Mike Luke), Terry Shifflett, Chris Houlday (voting for Paul Litwin). Also present were Wayne Peaper, Neil Fleming, Terry Thomas, John Bokop and Mike Fleetwood. Arriving later were Mike Luke and John Mancuso.

1) Bo brought up the position of Information Officer, the proposed newly created position on the Executive Committee. This position will take over the management of the OTS web site, and will communicate with the league members. Motion and seconded, passed unanimously. Tom Wendorf was appointed by the Board at this time. This position will be up for re-election with the President and Treasurer during even years.

2) Teams and managers discussed. James Gang, Custom Woodworking are out, Fox’s Den Pizza, Pepper's Tavern and Robinson Furniture are added. Depending on the number of teams the league will have, Harrington will or will not be used. Ireland's Four Courts has changed names to James Joyce Irish Pub.

3) Discussion on when the sponsors of a team must be taken in the draft took place. This was clarified for the managers. When a team is picking players in the draft, they cannot take a player at or below their sponsor's rating before they take that sponsor. This does not include the first (leveling) round, since some teams may not have the ability to do this due to their ratings in round 1. No opposition to this.

4) Discussed the number of teams for the league this year. Dick stated there were 162 players registered at this point for the 2014 season. The Board in September voted to allow a maximum of 156 players. This could be accomplished by having 12 teams with 13 players per team, or 13 teams with 12 players per team. After discussion, a motion by Grady Meredith, seconded by Pat Sherry was made to have 12 teams with 13 players per team for the total of 156 players. 8 votes For, 3 votes Against, motion Passed.

5) Changes to the By-Laws were listed for the Board, with changes recommended by the Executive Committee earlier tonight. Also, the Code of Conduct portion was discussed in detail by Harry, and clarified for the Board. Discussion took place on changing to 70' bases. A motion was made by Jesse Bare, seconded by Terry Shifflett to keep the bases at 65'. Motion failed. Then the Board voted on the amended By-Laws. Approved.

6) A motion was made by Jesses Bare, seconded by Grady Meredith to mandate that all teams keep a scorebook. Discussion took place. The requirement is only to keep score for your team. You do not have to keep the other team's scores. The motion Passed unanimously.

Richard B. Mullins

Secretary, OTS