LIHU’E — Talk of inclement weather due to the passage of a big weather front was not on the lips and minds of the 183 keiki, their coaches, and parents who turned out Saturday morning to open the 2004 season
LIHU’E — Talk of inclement weather due to the passage of a big weather front was not on the lips and minds of the 183 keiki, their coaches, and parents who turned out Saturday morning to open the 2004 season for the Lihu’e Baseball League.
Howard Dashefsky, former University of Hawai’i baseball player, joked that Shari Shima is pretty reliable when it comes to weather, but Saturday was a perfect day for playing baseball with its blue skies peppered with fluffy wisps of white clouds.
Dashefsky was the keynote speaker for the LBL opening ceremonies that heralded their season with four new baseball fields at the Lihu’e County Park, the work on the outfield fences being completed just this week.
Warren Koga, the LBL president, said that a grant requested by Liana Soong earlier in the year is what put their program over the hill, and combined with the sales of banner ads, the keiki now have four fields, two Pinto, and two Shetland, on which to play, the league’s efforts being acknowledged by mayor Bryan Baptiste in his welcoming remarks to the large gathering.
Scheduling was a nightmare, Koga said, trying to fit in 114 games over a 6-week span. The result is games being played daily from Monday through Saturday for the next six weeks.
There is no admission to come down and watch the fledgling ball players, who were encouraged by Dashefsky to keep honing their skills. Weekday games start at 4:30 p.m. and Saturday games start at 9 a.m.
Koga said there may be as many as three games going on at the same time during the weekday afternoons, and on Saturdays, there will be four games going on.
LBL players age between 5 through 9 years old in the Pinto and Shetland divisions, and Koga noted that on the heels of these two divisions, the Mustang and Bronco programs will kick in some time in March.
In addition to the banner ad sponsors, the LBL acknowledged the generous assistance of Falko Partners, represented by Doran Smith who committed their support in an even bigger fashion this year due to the success of the LBL program last year.
Norman Akita and Michael Nii represented the East Kaua’i Lions Club who also presented the league with a monetary donation which, according to Akita, is due to the league’s “everyone is a winner” philosophy.
The Devil Rays were declared the winner of the team banner competition, Dashefsky warmed up his arm, mayor Baptiste limbered up his bat, and councilman Mel Rapozo livened up the scenario with his brand of baseball chatter as the players took to the field, a band of Pirates scrambling for the mayor’s hit.
