NHD2 Little League
District Meeting Minutes
May 7, 2023
Present on Zoom: Jon Sebasco [LR; ADA], Derek Mercier [Concord], John Kneeland [NMHLL], Matt Petersons [Suncook], Sarah Fuller [Somersworth], Jeff Ross [UIC], Tom Wainwright [AUIC], Kathie Lynch [DA]
Zoom meeting called to order at 8:10 pm.
Minutes:
March meeting: Matt Petersons moved, Jon Sebasco 2nd to approve the minutes of the March meeting as distributed; no discussion; all approved.
Finances:
1. Kathie reported $742.16 in district account; awaiting receipt of $400 from one league for PCA contract.
2. Orders for 2023 district and state banners and pins have been completed for 8-10, 10-12, and Intermediate tournaments.
3. Any funds received to help defray the cost of tournament will be deposited into the account and hosting league will be reimbursed for costs.
Regular Season:
1. Leagues reminded to upload registration data, even if incomplete, as soon as possible. Once this data is uploaded the remaining ASAP plans should be approved.
2. Leagues are reminded to go into Data Center and indicate that the required background checks for child protection initiative compliance have been initiated. Kathie can see using her access that all leagues have begun background checks – LL has a formula based on the number of chartered teams how many checks each league should complete; at this time no league has reached this number.
3. Be sure to have your 12 game schedule completed before announcing tournament teams.
4. Remind coaches they can warm up catchers, mandatory defensive play of 6 outs is required regardless of continuous batting order, and if using continuous batting order there is no special pinch runner.
Teenage Divisions:
1. Intermediates: There are 2 leagues [Concord and NMH/Suncook] with Intermediate teams [3 team total] and at least 4 teams in D1 [Bedford and Nashua]. A schedule is being finalized – scheduling has been a challenge and it is recommended that starting in 2024 a coordinator for the Intermediate program be selected to bring together teams in both districts for scheduling and tournament planning.
2. Juniors: There are 2 junior teams registered in Mt Monadnock
3. Seniors: NMH is investigating entering a Senior team based on the new guidelines that eliminate the need for a regular season. Other leagues are encourage to consider this option – the state tournament [if needed] would be played the weekend of July 14-16 and many travel/Babe Ruth teams have stopped by that time.
PCA:
Attendance was very sparse at the April 11 PCA workshop. Next season we will need to carefully plan which clinics, where, and when clinics are planned. We are on a 3 year contract with 2 years to go [at $400/league] so it’s important to get the most from the financial resources we expend.
Tournament:
1. Diamond Leader completion is required for all tournament managers and coaches, including one game temporary replacements. To date Portsmouth has 4 of 6 enrollees complete the program and NMH has 2 of 3 enrollees complete the program – this is in addition to Jon and my completion. DO NOT appoint tournament managers or coaches until they provide you with a certificate! I cannot approve any tournament affidavit that does not have an accompanying certificate of completion for each manager and coach in all divisions of play.
2. Tournament enrollment is open for leagues that have paid their invoices; you may enroll teams at any time between now and mid-June even though announcing teams cannot occur until all players meet eligibility requirements [age, residence, games played].
3. Remember to keep all supporting documents [residency or school enrollment] with the tournament verification forms – once attached these documents are good for the players tenure in the league unless they change residence or schools.
4. Kathie will try to arrange a Challenger game on the Saturday of Championship Weekend to be played between the 8-10 and 10-12 game with players assisting on the field.
5. EMAIL KATHIE BY MAY 31 with the teams you will enter into tournament at ALL divisions of play: 8-10, 9-11, 10-12, Intermediate, Seniors.
Website:
Kathie will send Greg the updated district contact list and tournament information as it becomes available. If there are items of news or interest your league would like to include in the district website either directly to Greg or to Kathie for forwarding.
Umpires:
Jeff Ross shared a new process for umpire selection for regional and world series tournaments that will be implemented starting in 2024. This process will use the umpire registry and a scoring system to assign umpires based on merit.
Next meeting will follow the distribution of the draft tournament schedule; Kathie will email the draft schedule on June 1 following the receipt from every league of tournament entry plans [see #5 highlighted above]. We will plan to meet via Zoom on Tuesday, June 6 to draw numbers for league assignment to the drafted team schedules.
Meeting adjourned at 9:05 pm