BRICK – “Let’s play ball!” was shouted as the Brick Little League kicked off the season with their annual Opening Day Ceremony signifying the beginning of spring.
The phrase not only brought excitement to young boys, but also baseball-loving little girls. This year the ceremony was extra special as Little League International celebrated “Girls With Game 50” marking the historic 50th Anniversary of girls being allowed to participate in Little League Baseball.
The ceremony recognized the local girls and women volunteers, coaches and players that are a part of Little League. This included Kellie McLoed, who was the first and still only female Majors Division Manager at Manchester Little League. She is also a NJ District 18 Volunteer.
Mayor Lisa Crate has made an appearance for the celebration, and proclaimed the day “Girls with Game Day” in an official township proclamation. Mayor Crate also had the honor of throwing the ceremonial first pitch.
The League presented Mayor Crate with a plaque recognizing her as the first female Mayor of Brick Township to be elected by the public. She was also presented with a bouquet of flowers in the League colors of blue and white from Isabella Pagan, one of the League’s players.
In the nationwide tradition that’s performed at all Little League opening day ceremonies, 12-year-old player Layla Goode read the Little League Pledge. In addition, Autumn Curialle sang the National Anthem and umpire Sonia Madas was in uniform represented as the first girl umpire of the current League charter.
The League took the time to recognize the teams’ 2023 highlights and achievements. Trophies were handed out to the 11-Year-Old District Championship Team coached by Coach Jason Burgess and their 2023 Senior League District Championship Team coached by Coach Jake Vitale.
Before any games began, the League recognized some of their volunteers: Joe Genova and Ron Murcer as well as NJ District 18 Administrator Frank Trenkle, who is in his last year as the local District Administrator.
Additionally, the League presented a check to Brick United for their Scholarship Fund and Golf Outing on June 19 at Cream Ridge Golf Course. Donnie Ayers and Cathy Lindenbaum from the Brick United board of directors were on hand to receive the check.
“2024 is a very special year for Little League International as 50 years of the first girls being allowed to play Little League Baseball is being celebrated around the world and also here locally.” Brick Little League President Mike Desmond stated. “Here in Brick, we have 53 girls out of all our 590 players playing baseball at multiple divisions and age groups; which we are proud of having so many girls playing and thankful for all of the women that volunteer to make local Leagues run.”
“Unfortunately, the weather did not want to cooperative, but we had another outstanding kick off to our 2024 season. As we’ve had an increase in participants over the years, we’re always looking for a way to improve what we provide,” Director of Operations Glenn Steinhandler said.
Before the 2024 season launched, the League unveiled its nearly $24,000 facilities renovation, which included an indoor facility with a Baseball Skills Clinic. Steinhandler led the project and highlighted the HitTrax Hitting and Pitching System.
The baseball simulator tracks analytics for pitching and hitting to help players understand how they’re progressing. It tests and measures launch angle, exit velocity, distance and other statistics on each swing.
“It’s a video training technology as well as an entertainment platform for allowing players to get real-time feedback for actions within a baseball training facility. They show the ball and records the speed, accuracy of that pitch, other information as well as video recording the throw. It’s a similar on the batting side, recording a player’s swing and giving back analysis and statistics. There’s also a game aspect to it, allowing head-to-head competition, as well as individual, for showing how they’ve improved,” Steinhandler said. “We’re not using statistics to track players or to determine how they will develop, it’s truly for seeing how they are developing and giving us indications and giving them feedback.”
Steinhandler expressed his excitement of the new equipment and how it will impact children a part of the Brick Little League.
“A lot of children learn visually. So, trying to explain to a child what they may have done wrong – if they can’t visually see it, it’s hard for them to execute it, or it’s hard for them to absorb and try to mimic the moves. From a video perspective, they can see what they need to do to correct their movements. Same idea for pitching,” Steinhandler explained. “Visual games and feedback have been more and more prevalent. How do we find an aspect to engage kids who want to be doing this and keep them around? The other aspect is for kids who are not developing as quickly, to help them where possible. They can now see where they can improve – where they may not see on a field per say. But at a training facility like this, someone can help them.”
