LET’S PLAY BALL!

Elmhurst Little League invites the community to attend our Opening Day. April 16 from 8:30am – 6:30pm. Sponsors are invited to come and support their teams. And feel free to enjoy some of their wonderful concessions, buy some raffle tickets or a ticket to the Cubs vs. Reds game.

Festivities will begin at 8:30 am. Doug Long from Jefferson Pointe’s Bob Evans is offering breakfast at the concession stand at 8:30am. They will be serving pancakes, sausage and a drink for $3.50. There will be games for the children along with ball games starting at 9:00am. Along with a huge raffle with donations from local stores, restaurants and they even received some Kings Island tickets. Raffle tickets sell at 7 for $5 or $1 each. A bus trip is being planned for a Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds on August 10. They will be taking orders for tickets at the raffle table. Tickets for the bus trip are $59. The Wizards will have Dinger the Dragon out at the field at 11:00am and our President-Patrick Lee will start our opening ceremonies at noon. Ball games will start back up at 1:45pm. The concessions will be available all day.

Our sponsors include: Foster Park Lions, Legacy Heating and Air, Wells Fargo (Waynedale), ReMax (Lisa Coy), Sports Center, Hanson Aggregates, Brooks Construction, Graves Trucking, AJAX Tools, Fort Wayne Awning, Burger King, Dr. Ingleman, D.D.S., Shelton Financial, 24/7, East of Chicago (Waynedale), TruGreen, Rich’s Auto Center, Southwest Fire District, Elzey, Patterson & Rodak Home for Funerals, Tuthill, Bob Evans (Jefferson Pointe), UAW Local #2209 and Harmony Lodge.

Pennant sponsors are: Ace Tent Rental, All About Hair, Renewal by Anderson, Frederick’s Photography, Lebrato’s, Norm’s Paint Supply, AM Vets Post #33, American Legion Post #241, Subway (Waynedale), O.R.I.S., J.W. Signs and Miller & Fiandt Insurance Services.

These sponsors make the little league run. They rely on these businesses and organizations to help fund teams so that they can play over 2 months of organized baseball. The Elmhurst Little League is always looking for pennant sponsors. If anyone is interested, please contact Kelly Lee at 672-8099 or Charles Bostwick at 625-5607. They are also looking for 2 more Big League sponsors so if you would like to see your company’s logo playing around the Allen County area, give them a call.

Girl’s softball will be playing a scrimmage game on Opening Day, Saturday, April 16. If you have a girl between the ages of 7 & 15 that would like to play, contact a board member for information.

Our board this year includes: Pat Lee-President, Keith McBeath-VP of Operations, Gene Best-Player Agent, Julie Crouch-Treasure, Jill Fisher-Secretary, Kelly Lee-Co. Sponsor Chair, Charles Bostwick-Co. Sponsor Chair, Brent Fuller-VP of Jr./Sr., Eric Gunkel-VP of Major, Jim Goelz,-VP of Minor, Dave Baumgartner-VP of Prep/T-Ball, Dave & Lee Shields-Concessions & Fundraiser

Tanya Gonzales-Fundraiser, Lisa Goelz-Web site & Volunteer Coordinator, Tammy Baumgartner-Vol. Coordinator, Tracy Leeper-Co. VP of Softball, Steve Reid-Co. VP of Softball, Marc Cotter-Equipment Manager, Rick Lepird-Jr/Sr Park Director, Mark Dettmer-Major Park Director, Andy Dukarski-Minor Park Director.

The board members and volunteers are a vital part of getting over 300 children ready to play baseball. Between signups, draft, fundraiser, clean-up days to get the diamonds ready, they put in over 100 hours just so that they have a safe, clean and fun environment for the children to play.

Some of the goals for Elmhurst Little League are to have the parking lot chipped and sealed, get some more land to build more diamonds for Prep league, softball and a playground. They would like to have new batting cages, a centrally located concession stand and restrooms. These are big projects and will require a lot of community support, along with donations and volunteers.

They also need the support of neighbors. They have a problem with vandalism. The concessions were broke into last fall at the end of the season. They DO NOT keep money in the concessions. They cannot keep replacing these steel doors at the expense they are. So neighbors, please keep an eye out for any suspicious activity at the diamonds. The police do come through at random times throughout the night so they keep some of the vandals away, but the support of our community is so important.

Thanks to the Waynedale community for your time and the Elmhurst Little League appreciates your support. Look for them at the Memorial Day Parade, Monday, May 30.