Area little leagues to merge
STANHOPE — The 2015 board for both Hobb Engler Little League and Lakeland Little League has announced that they will be merging two of their youngest baseball divisions this year.
Both the Tee Ball and Instructional Coach Pitch divisions will play as one group and will have teams supporting both towns.
This opens the two divisions of baseball to all members of the local community that currently share so many other recreational resources and who are the prime contributors of the Lenape Valley Regional High School baseball program.
The merged program has yet to be fully approved by LL International but since these two programs have participated in many other programs as joint participants, there is no reason to believe it will not be approved, according to a news release detailing the merger.
Tee Ball Division targets five and six year olds and Instructional Division targets seven and eight year olds.
Additional divisions will remain as separate programs and the two programs will adjust expenses proportionately based on membership.
For the 2015 season, the LL charters, registrations, financials and most league administration will remain separate for both programs.
“There are many details, intricacies and possibilities that are yet to be discussed” said Manny Ramirez, President of LL Little League, “but we are excited at the progress we have made thus far to bring these two organizations and divisions together. We have merged our All Star programs in the past and our players generally advance to the same high school so it only makes sense to make additional efforts on playing together.”
John Figiel, HE LL’s President said, “Other recreational and sports programs have merged together because it makes sense for these players, programs and towns to pool resources. We are purposely not merging our entire program together because we understand that there would be many questions and some concerns around doing this. We are doing our best to make this a positive experience for everyone and we are also inviting our membership to share their thoughts and provide input on how we might improve on this program in future years.”
HE LL has board meetings once a month, generally on the first Tuesday of every month, at 8 p.m. at the COJ Field House. Lakeland LL board has meetings typically every other week on Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m. at Stanhope Valley Road School.
More information on the plans and steps to merge these two divisions will be posted to the HE(Byram)LL and Lakeland (Stanhope and Netcong) LL websites as information is available. Email distributions will also be generated by both organizations so that the constituents are well aware of any changes to their respective programs.
For more information on HE(Byram)LL, contact John Figiel, President HE(Byram)LL at 973-219-7656, or mail your inquiry to PO Box 262, Stanhope, NJ 07874 or go to the HE(Byram)LL website at www.HobbEnglerLittleLeague.org.
For more information on Lakeland Little League, contact Many Ramirez, President Lakeland LL at 973-214-1570, or mail your inquiry to PO Box 474, Stanhope, NJ 07874 or go to the Lakeland Little League website at www.lakelandlittleleague.com.