MINUTES OF M.E.T.S.S BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING 1/27/18
Attendance:
All teams were represented.
L.A. Fitness
gave a brief presentation on their Randolph facility and distributed ONE WEEK
PASSES to encourage perspective senior softball players to visit and get in
shape for the 2018 season. Gene will
meet with the General Manager and other company officials to determine what
type of financial incentives can be offered for senior softball players in all
counties.
RULES:
Bill Perlman
reported the Rules and Bylaws Committee will meet to discuss the proposals from
last meeting. However, a couple of those
items have been decided and were removed from their agenda by Executive
Committee action. Specifically, those
items were: pitchers’ masks, size of the strike plate, and Tuesday/Thursday
games. Gene Stracco and Frank Shapiro
attended the State organization meeting on Saturday January 13th and
decisions at that meeting impacted two of the above issues. It is the State’s position that since we
purchase liability insurance from USSSA and they require pitchers to wear masks
in their rule book, then all pitchers MUST WEAR masks during batting practice
and game competition. Therefore, the
Executive Committee has adopted that requirement in the Rules and Bylaws of the
Morris Essex Tuesday Senior Softball League.
It is also the State’s position that the size of the strike-plate remain
at 22 X 36. Every county in the State
utilizes that size, with the possible exception of Union County, and they are
voting on this issue in the near future.
Therefore, the strike-plate size will remain at 22 X 36 for the Morris
Essex Tuesday Senior Softball League.
Lastly, Gene conducted a survey of all Slocum managers, except the
Padres, regarding player preference of playing on Tuesdays or Thursdays to
provide other age eligible players an opportunity to play in the Slocum
Division. Thirty–five out of a total of
seventy five players in the Slocum Division said they will not, cannot, or don’t
want play on Thursdays. Therefore, all
teams in the Morris Essex Tuesday Senior Softball League will remain playing on
Tuesdays.
SCHEDULING:
Tom Rutkowski
reported the Yogi’s Boys will field a team for the 2018 season. Therefore, the A and B Divisions will have
ten teams combined and the Slocum Division will have six teams with the
addition of an expansion team. Frank
reported that scheduling will be easier with an even number of teams in each
Division.
Motion 1: Made by Sandy DiDormenico seconded by Al Cheli, “to combine
the A and B Division resulting in one ten team Division”. Motion failed.
Motion 2A: Motion made by Al
Cheli and seconded by Frank Shapiro, “The run limit for each competing team in
a game will be 5 runs per inning for the first five innings with no catch up stipulation
and innings six and seven will be designated open innings”. Motion failed.
Motion 2B: When a B Division team plays an A Division team, the B Division team will automatically be given five runs to add to their total score.” Motion failed.
BEGINNING TIME OF GAMES:
Motion 1: Motion made by Al Cheli and seconded by John O’Rourke, “All games will start at 10:00 a.m. for the entire season”. Motion carried.
TOURNAMENTS:
John Esposito, Chairman of the Tournament Committee stated plans are underway for the qualifying New Jersey Senior Olympic Tournament. However, he will contact Mike Garamella, the Coordinator of the New Jersey Senior Olympics because the original dates of September 8, 9, and 10 may interfere with 65-70 team’s participation at the Cape Cod Tournament. Additional details will be forthcoming.
The dates for the NJSSA Tournaments are as follows:
50’s- 7/28 or 7/29 depending on the numbers of team
60’s- 8/18 and 8/19
70’s Team Tournament- 8/16, rain date 8/23
70’s All-Star Tournament- 8/23(if rain date for team tournament is not needed), rain date 8/30.
SSA Natural
Classic in Virginia will be held 4/7 and 4/8.
Al Cheli has a team participating in that Tournament.
Submitted by: Gene Stracco, Commissioner