Rain, rain go away.... was the chant heard around Middletown, as last year's drought was just a memory. Practices were disrupted by the weather and the fact that several fields were shut down by Park & Recreation to perform necessary maintenance. Nonetheless, the season kicked off with The Major League Jamboree on April 15th.

The weather wasn't the only turmoil faced by the Board of Directors. Several resignations led to a shortage of volunteers in mid-season. Thanks to Steven Ladd for serving as interim President during this summer of discontent. Thanks also go to Ken Robinson, Jeff Smith, Anne Galanto, Brenda Michanczyk, Liz Pellici, Jeff Marchese, Mark Soll, Jeff Toth, Doreen Cronin and to all the others who pitched in to get the job done.

Prior to the season, Safety Director Dan Hunter and Training Director Cliff Carlson held a clinic for all league coaches on Saturday, April 1. Topics covered during the morning clinic included:

Safety Programs in place Basic First Aid Causes and treatment of common injuries Rules for 2000 season

Warmup Exercise Routines Fielding & Throwing Drills Baserunning Drills Hitting Drills

Great job Dan and Cliff !! Thanks !!

      

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Page & Warner defeats Hunter's Ambulance -- takes City Title
Reprinted from Middletown Press 7/3/00

Page & Warner became the first Moose League team to win the Little League city championship since 1995 by beating Hunter's Ambulance 9-1 on Sunday afternoon at Snow School.

The starting pitcher for Page & Warner was Joe Witkowski, who performed brilliantly by striking out 11, walking one and giving up three hits. Not only did the eleven year old Witkowski pitch a complete game, but he went 4-for-4 at the plate with 2 RBI to help bring home the Mayor's Trophy.

Page & Warner managed 13 hits against Hunter's pitching. "In our last five regular season games, we had only six hits", Page & Warner manager Jeff Toth said. "In our three playoff games, we had 12 hits, 14 hits and 13 in this game. In our last regular season game, we won with a home run and our hitting just caught on from there."

D. J. Hunter was the starting pitcher for Hunter's and went four innings striking out eight and giving up four runs. Ed Liudshay came on to start the fifth inning for Hunters. In the fourth, Mike Rascati hit a two out two run double to make the score 4-1.

Mike Komorski came up in the fifth inning with two outs and the bases loaded and hit a two run single to extend Page & Warner's lead. Jason Dascanio went 2-for-3 with a RBI and Justin Diebolt added two triples for Page & Warner.

Hunter's Greg Fauska had two of Hunter's three hits, doubling in the third inning and was driven home by Ryan Brainard to score Hunter's lone run.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Hunter's Ambulance	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	0
Page & Warner	1	1	0	2	5	x	9	13	0

2000 City Champions - Page & Warner

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High View defeats Papa's Southside to win Minors City Title
Reprinted from Middletown Press 7/4/00

Danny Stanley and Kevin Sinagra combined for 13 strikeouts while walking only one batter as High View Health defeated Papa's Southside Grill 11-3 in the boys minor league city championship.

Stanley, in addition to finishing the year with a 9-0 pitching mark, went 3-for-3 and scored two runs while Mike Malkowski was 2-for-3 with a triple and RBI. Nick Moncada scored a pair of runs. Kevin Brostek added a hit and had a stellar defensive game behind the plate.

Both teams entered the game with 15-1 records with the sole loss coming at each other's hands.

Papa's was led by Bud Dorflinger who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Grant Salzano added a triple and Brendan Behm added key hits. Papa's starting pitcher David Nielsen struck out six in three inning and Bob Stachura allowed just three euns in three innnings of relief.

This years Boys Minor City championship was the first played since 1995. Special thanks go to John Doolittle whose generous donation paid for the trophies both teams received.

High View Health had battled back from an 11-3 deficit in the semi-finals game to beat Sansone Cabinets. Danny Stanley went 2-for-2, Kevin Brostek went 2-for-3, Kevin Sinagra went 2-for-3. All three scored twice as High View prevailed 13-12.

Willie Biestek pitched three strong innings for Sansone's Cabinet and Brian Sullivan went 3-for-4 with and double, triple and homer. Biesteck added a 2-for-4 game at the plate and Aaron Hirsch scored three times for Sansones. Stanley (8-0) was winner for High View in relief.

High View Health capped the year being introduced to the crowd and taking the field at August 24th RockCats game. Other team activities included an early season visit to the sponsor for juice and cookies, a season-ending BBQ and a game where the senior citizens -- who chipped in to sponsor the team -- came to Snow School to see a game.

2000 Minors City Champions - High View Health

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Papa's Southside Grill	0	0	2	0	1	0	3	5	0
High View Health Care	1	6	1	3	0	x	11	10	0

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Calico Triumphs - Defeats Simply Elegant in Girls Majors Title Game
By Kelly-Ann Franklin - reprinted from Middletown Press 6/22/00

Calico productions took home the Majors Girls softball championship trophy after battling back from a long first inning. Calico defeated Simply Elegant 22-21 at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

Calico Productions was in a great position in the bottom of the sixth inning and took advantage of Simply Elegant's fear of lead-off hitter Shaquila Nettles. To that point, Nettles had launched two doubles to left field. "Shaquila Nettles ... been unbelievable all season", Calico coach Mark Soll said. "I'm sure that when they were rolling the ball, they were trying to walk her and face the next batter with the bases loaded. It didn't work, but Shaquila's been unbelievable all season for us." Nettles scored four runs on pure speed and drove in an RBI before coming up in the final inning. When Calico had tied the game, Simply Elegant pitcher Kristin Morello began throwing rollers to the plate to Nettles, conceding the open base. But one of them wasn't stopped, getting past the catcher and allowing Ashley Flynn to score the winning run.

Calico stared the game with Shala Calico stared the game with Shala Mulaney on the mound, but was forced into a pitching change when Mulaney had trouble finding her spots. She walked 11, gave up three hits and allowed 14 runs while getting only one out. Coach Soll then went to Megan Carta to finish the inning. Carta walked her first batter, then gave up an RBI single to Elyse Vinoski. Settling down, she struck out two in a row to end the inning.

"We've come back all year. We've trailed by a lot of runs and last night we trailed in that game. We've been down 14 runs before. In our first game we trailed Simply Elegant 10-3 in the fifth and came back," Coach Soll said.

Offensively, Calico produced 16 hits. Three were for extra bases. Along with Nettles' two doubles, Carta helped her own cause with a three-run triple in the third.

On the other side, Simply Elegant relied heavily on Mulaney's problems early - only knocking out seven hits but walking around the basepath 26 times, 16 scored. "As far as their team goes, they've proved that they can hit all year. And they certainly did hit this year, in this game," Simply Elegant coach Gary Fredericks said. "That was their strength." "I thought our team played great defense...pitched well, that's what got us to where we are." Simply Elegant showed its great defense several tines throughout. Second baseman Abby Horton came up with a hard hit ball off of Carta's bat in the fifth and took it herself for the out at second. She also covered extra ground on a pop fly for the second out in the sixth. Horton also had a big hit for her team in the fourth, a double, but was stranded in one of the shortest innings of the game. Only four batters came to the plate for Simply Elegant's half, and Calico only scored once. "She played great, that's Abby Horton, she played fantastic," Fredericks said. "She'll be back next year."

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	R	H	E
Simply Elegant	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	7	0
Calico Productions	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	16	0

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2000 Moose League All Stars
Coming Soon !

2000 O'Rourke-Kidney League All Stars
Coming Soon !

2000 Moose League 9-10 Year Old All Stars
Manager John Bagley, Coaches: Bob Sinagra and Gary Behm
Kevin Brostek, Danny Stanley, Kevin Sinagra, Nick Moncada, Jordan Dielbolt, Bobby Stachura, Brendan Behm, Jeff Roy, Steve Marchese, Bud Dorflinger, Mike Kolenda, Tyler Latham, Jacob Lineberry, Chris Tuttle

2000 O'Rourke-Kidney League 9-10 Year Old All Stars
Coming Soon !

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Ahern-Whalen celebrated its 50th anniversary August 10th at Palmer Field with a doubleheader as part of its new extended season. Mayor Thornton and several members of the Common Council presented proclamations, former mayors Holzberg and Gionfriddo were in attendance, Post 75 Color Guard presented the colors and the Middletown Youth Jazz Band played between games. Ryan Merriam and Larissa Gionfriddo performed the national anthems before the games. A special touch was the "Voice of Palmer Field", Jim Bransfield doing the PA work, as he's done for the past 35 years. Bransfield had recently announced his retirement from some of his many announcing duties.

The Ahern-Whalen League's "Community Family Night" was a rousing success and thanks to League President Steven Ladd, the Board of Directors and all those involved.