What a great start to the new season! Today many volunteers, parents and children came to the traditional Clean Up Day in Sachtlebenstraße in the beautiful sunshine and springlike temperatures. Raking leaves, pruning bushes, cleaning paths, preparing baseball fields and dug outs: there was plenty to do all day. But there was still also plenty of time for reunions, nice German-English conversations and many new contacts. The Concession stand team provided chilli con carne, drinks and – of course – all kinds of sweets for our hard-working volunteers. A great day for young and old!

By the way: If you want to register your child on short notice, you still have a few days left. Info here. Next Saturday, March 30th, the Try Outs for Minor League and Little League will be held.

Play ball!

Baseball season is almost here and we have a number of events planned to finish our preparations. In addition to try-outs and our annual umpire clinic on Saturday, March 30^th we have added a “scorekeepers clinic”.

Our very own Melissa Wiltzius has been studying for her scorekeeper license through the BSVBB.  Melissa has graciously offered to teach these skill at a one-hour presentation to be held from 2 to 3 p.m. From 2 to 5:00 p.m. we will have our annual umpire clinic. Hosted this year by Christopher Purrington.

Scorekeepers play a vital role beginning in the Minor League continuing through the Juniors. Specifically,

• Provide the umpire and coaches a ‘real time’ picture of where the game is. Believe it or not, the umpires, coaches and even players can lose track of simple things like the strike count or number of runs scored. This helps the game to proceed without arguments.
• Coaches find the information on the scorekeepers record a great way to replay the game. They can spot who their dependable hitters are. Who can score a run if they get on base. Who excels in RBI’s. This information helps a coach to manage the team to  a winning season.
• You can enjoy the satisfaction of being a part of the game instead of just a spectator.

Are you interested in attending? There is no pressure to actually score games but if your child’s coach asks for someone to help on game day you will probably feel confident to assist the team.

Please RSVP to reg@allbb.de and we will add your name to the list of attendees. You only need to bring yourself to the clinic.

Thanks for taking the time to consider this request. We look forward to seeing everyone on March 30^th for try-outs and our umpire/scorekeeper clinics.