ATHOL — A day before the Athol-Orange Chuck Stone Little League kicked off its 2022 season, league president Bob Woodward spoke to the Athol Daily News about getting things organized, particularly in the wake of a pandemic that reduced participation in 2021.
Woodward said this year more than 200 youngsters are taking part in four levels of play.
“For my T-Ball I have about 80 kids,” he said, “For our Coach Pitch — which is a step below minor league and a step above T-Ball — I have 80 kids. For my Minor League I have about 36 kids. And then Major League, I have 13. And for Softball I have about 24 girls.
“Getting going last year, they had about 140 kids — no softball. But with people seeing the outpouring of volunteers and people working on the field and seeing people who just wanted baseball to be back, I think that’s why we have so many kids this year. It’s because of the hard work they’ve seen just to get baseball going again.”
In addition to rebuilding after COVID-19, some folks might think another task organizers faced was luring kids away from their social media and video games, but such was not the case.
“You know what? I think kids want to play baseball. I think I’ve got a lot of kids that really want to play baseball. They’re interested in it, and it’s really been huge, it’s been nice.”
Woodward presented a pair of awards Saturday morning prior to the first pitch being thrown.
The Outstanding Volunteer Award was presented to the American Legion Riders, Chapter 102.
“They did two big fundraisers for the Little League,” Woodward explained, “and they’ve been down there just working constantly to get the field ready and to make it look nice. They’ve been wanting to come down and help out. They want to see baseball thrive because a lot of these guys remember playing baseball as kids, and they want the youth nowadays to have the same experience that they had when they were kids.
“They’ve down there every day working on it, and the guy who has headed up the project, Shaun Sherman, he contacted me and said, ‘Hey, this is what I want to do. Are you on board with it?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ And he’s been getting the guys and doing fundraising and just being down there constantly. Athol’s field looks really, really nice — and he doesn’t even have a kid that’s playing baseball.”
Another award was presented to league volunteer Emily White.
“It’s going to be for her countless hours going above and beyond,” Woodward continued. “I’m the face. You know, everyone comes up to me and says, ‘Oh, you’re doing such an amazing job.’ But I’m just the face. Emily’s the one — she’s the organization. She’s the one sending countless emails to the parents. She’s the one talking to them, speaking to the parents. She’s really gone above and beyond the call of duty.
“She’s been there with me every step of the way, and she’s the one who makes me look good.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com