EQUIPMENT NEEDED! ENSENADA AREA GIRLS SOFTBALL

By Captain Lonnie Ryan

The second season is starting locally for a new fast pitch softball league drawing girls from the Ensenada, El Sauzal, San Antonio de las Minas and the Valle de Guadalupe areas.

The players range from 8 to 12 years old. The concept was not founded by any one person, it is a community effort to benefit the welfare and spirit of these often poor and less advantaged children. In life frequently we find our greatest happiness can be realized by contributing to the welfare of those less fortunate than ourselves. This endeavor is designed to involve participants in this new sport (to them), hopefully resulting in opening up further possibilities for them in the future – besides being wives, homemakers, and caretakers.

Last year, during the third week of May team leaders were out recruiting players for the clinic scheduled June 7. On Wednesday May 21st they assembled at one of the local schools in El Sauzal and held a practice for the kids. In all, there were over 100 girls involved in the practice. They set up stations for catching and throwing along with hitting drills for the girls to get them interested in the game. By the end of practice over 80 girls signed up for the summer clinic with the organizations administrator, Dr. Irma Lozano.

Ensenada is already ahead in the development of their girls softball leagues as they have over 30 experience players. One of the girls is named ADANESNE, pronounced Ada-Nes-Nay which is Ensenada spelled backwards. She is 10 years old and she’s been playing in Ensenada for 3 years. She works out with the bigger older girls because that’s really the only place to for her to play. This new league concept is designed so she can play on a team of her own age group against girls her own age.

On this past Saturday, January 24th, the league had 6 teams each with about 14 players on the field playing practice games. There were about 80 players on the field. It was the biggest turnout ever! It is thought that there were another 20 players that could not attend that may show up this coming Saturday for the Official Try Outs. Coach Patty, Lupita, Christina, Osvaldo, Evelyn, and Ivan all fielded teams picked in a fun draft. They all were fantastic and did a great job managing the chaos and fun! With the draft held at 9am, each coach got to pick players from the whole group so that kids from Ensenada were playing on the same team as kids from El Sauzal and Valle de Guadalupe. They all got a chance to get to know all the players. With very few hiccups, it was quite successful. If the league has 100 players this coming Saturday, they have 2 new coaches waiting in the wings to join in and make the 7th and 8th team.

The response has already been more than the league can handle. It is feared there will be too many players and not enough equipment. It is possible there may be more than the 100 players for the start of the second season early next month. Quoting Coach Charles Tawil, “Because the sport is new to almost every girl involved, it’s mission critical that we demonstrate in person and put the balls and bats in the girls hands so that they can get the enthusiasm for the game that we know will spark them to participate. We need at least another 60 gloves for the new season as most players can’t afford to buy them. ”

When asked if there are any local Churches involved, he added “The underlying core principles of what we do are centered in the teachings of “being good and doing good”. There is no specific church locally involved but our leadership absolutely leans on the moral values espoused by the Judeo Christian ethic. All players of all faiths are invited to the program. Everyone plays and everyone is truly important.”

If you have any time or money to invest in these worthy children or equipment to donate please contact info@bajasoftball.com or visit the league’s web site at www.bajasoftball.com

League phone numbers;
USA Tel: (619) 819-9360
Mexico Tel: +52 (646) 174-7863