Local little leaguers are in store for a big night. This Saturday 25 June sees the end-of-season awards ceremonies and all-star games at the Field of Dreams facility in George Town. The evening will officially wrap up the Cayman Islands Little League’s 22nd season and honour hundreds of kids across five age divisions.
Every player will get a medal. Teams trophies, along with a ‘Most Improved’ and ‘Best Sportsmanship’ award, will also be handed out. Coaches, sponsors and umpires will also be rewarded.
The action starts at 5pm with the All-Stars of the Pony and girls softball divisions taking fields two and one respectively, followed by Awards presentations. At 6:30pm all four fields will see more All-Star game action. Minors will play on field one, majors on field two, ‘AAA’ on field three and seniors on field four, with awards afterwards.
Little league president Jim Parham will be on hand to introduce each division coordinator, namely: Paul Gallagher (minors), Alero Abrams (majors), Jason Bechard (juniors), Jon DaCosta (seniors) and Jeremy Rice (girls softball).
Fundraising coordinator Sara Mackay spoke about the Pony division and its lack of a coordinator.
“Struggling with a volunteer pool stretched thin, the Pony division never had a coordinator, even enough coaches were hard to find,” Mackay said. “But the volunteers who did turn up were keen and a surprising parity eventually emerged. Led by coaches who emphasized fun and sportsmanship, a last place team pulled together, battled their way through the playoffs and into the championship game, to be defeated by just a couple of runs!”
One of the interesting awards on offer will be the 2011 George Rivers award, given to a long-serving Little League volunteer with great attitude. The honour is named after Caymanian George Rivers who had all four of his kids involved in little league in the early days and handled many duties from coaching to umpiring.
Food will also be on sale and this year’s menu will feature barbecue jerk chicken, side dishes and cakes. Proceeds from the sale of that food will offset the cost of a Cayman team competing in the Little League international regional tournament (one of the qualifiers for the Little League World Series). That competition takes place in St Thomas the second week in July.
Related Videos
