NORTH WASHINGTON BABE RUTH BASEBALL

FALL MEETING MINUTES

October 2, 1010 – Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant, North Bend, WA

Attendees:

Randy Boruff (State Commissioner), Bill Peterson (Assistant State Commissioner), Les Dow (District 3 Commissioner), Dan Ohlson (Southern Washington), Jim Marcotte (Umpire-in-Chief), Dan Estes (District 4 Commissioner), Bob Fojtik (District 4 Commissioner), Russ Barker (North Kitsap Babe Ruth), Jim Allen (District 1 Commissioner), Steven Smith (District 5 Commissioner), Brent Stenman (Assistant State Commissioner).

The meeting was called to order at 11:10 AM by State Commissioner Randy Boruff.

  • Opening Remarks, Welcome & Introduction

Randy introduced himself, and went around the room and had everyone introduce themselves.

  • Acceptance of Agenda

Randy presented the meeting agenda and asked for acceptance. There was a motion, a second, and a vote of approval (MSA).

  • Secretary’s Report

Randy asked for acceptance of the Minutes from the Spring Meeting. There was a motion, a second, and a vote of approval (MSA).

  • Financial Report

Randy reported that there is a balance of $2,250 in the account. Randy again stated that the balance should never go below $2,200, since that was the amount in the account several years ago when Randy took over from prior State Commissioner Bob Mayer.

  • District Reports

District 1: District Commissioner Jim Allen reported that they had a quiet and successful year. The 14 year old state champion (Ferndale) came from their District. He also said that Greg Hatch from the City of Bellingham Parks Department is dropping youth baseball and directing their kids to Pony league.

District 3: District Commissioner Les Dow reported that they had a great year in terms of numbers. He thinks they had 169 teams in the District. Their organizational meeting is on November 13th, so they will know more about 2011 numbers after that time. They did have a problem with two teams from that District at the State Tournament in Kent using illegal players, and that issue will be addressed in new business.

District 4: District Commissioners Dan Estes and Bob Fojtik reported things went pretty well in the first year since Districts 4 and 8 merged. They think the numbers were down a bit across the board, but overall okay. There is still some talk about Bainbridge Island merging with North Kitsap.

District 5: District Commissioner Steven Smith reported things are going fairly well. The problem continues to be the same come tournament time with not enough coaches and/or players wanting to participate in the tournament trail.

District 6: District Commissioner Dan Peck was not able to attend, but sent the following e-mailed report: “We had over 900 players in our program, 75 of them in the 13-15 division. We also had a 15 team fall league. I have received an inquiry from a local travel team that wants to sign up with Babe Ruth for their 16U and 18 U teams. I will e-mail Randy with more information on that this weekend. We had a great time at the 13U and 15U tournaments, but the 15U tournament in Kent was a little disappointing that 2 teams were disqualified. Also, when we asked if pitching stats would be posted they said no, they wouldn't, we would just have to watch games to know who was eligible. I don't find that acceptable at the state tournament level. Overall a great first year and we expect growth in year two.

  • State Tournament Reports

13 State Tournament (Ellensburg): District 5 Commissioner Steven Smith reported that it was a smoothly run tournament until the tiebreaker issues at the end (see new business). Ellensburg (Host- District 5) won the title over Burlington (District 1). He said there was some very good talent at the tournament. He did say there were some issues before the tournament about the contract, district tournament, etc., but once the tournament started it went very well until the end.

14 State Tournament (Port Angeles): District 4 Commissioner Dan Estes reported that Ferndale(District 1) was the winner over Ellensburg (District 5). Dan said the Tournament was very successful, as they usually are in Port Angeles. It was an 8 team tournament, and the top 4 teams were all pretty good, and then it was a pretty big drop off in talent.

13-15 State Tournament (Kent): Assistant State Commissioner Brent Stenman and Umpire-in-Chief Jim Marcotte reported that there were some obvious issues with ineligible players and no official scorebook (see new business). Otherwise the tournament went fairly well. Central Kitsap (District 4) was the winner over Cannons Green (District 3).

16-18 State Tournament (Ephrata): State Commissioner Randy Boruff reported that it was a double elimination tournament and his River Dogs came back through the loser bracket to beat the Kent Bulldogs for the title. He did say there was some controversy at the end with how the final game ended, but overall it went pretty well, and at the end of the day both teams were able to advance to the Regional anyway.

  • Regional Tournament Reports

AssistantState Commissioner Brent Stenman reported the following Regional Tournament winners:

  • 13 Regional Tournament (Idaho Falls, ID): East Boise (Idaho) won the Tournament to advance to the World Series in Levelland, TX. Ellensburg from Northern Washington was in the final game and lost 12-9.
  • 14 Regional Tournament (Lewiston, ID): Hazel Del Metro (Southern Washington) won the Tournament to advance to the World Series in Loudoun County, VA. Ferndale from Northern Washington did not make it out of Pool Play.
  • 13-15 Regional Tournament (Klamath Falls, OR): Kelso (Southern Washington) won the Tournament to advance to the World Series in Monticello, AR. Central Kitsap from Northern Washington was in the final game and lost 5-0.
  • 16-18 Regional Tournament (Portland, OR): Portland (Host-Northern Oregon) won the Tournament to advance to the World Series in Newark, OH. The Columbia Basin River Dogs from Northern Washington were in the final game and lost 6-4.
  • World Series Reports

AssistantState Commissioner Brent Stenman reported the following World Series winners:

  • 13 World Series (Levelland, TX): Torrance, California was the winner. East Boise from the Pacific NW Region finished 1-3 in Pool Play and did not make it to the single-elimination round.
  • 14 World Series (Loudoun County, VA): Tri Valley, California was the winner. Hazel Del Metro from the Pacific NW Region finished 2-2 in Pool Play and lost in the first round of the single-elimination round.
  • 13-15 World Series (Monticello, AR): North Syracuse, New York was the winner. Kelso from the Pacific NW Region finished 2-2 in Pool Play and did not make it to the single-elimination round.
  • 16-18 World Series (Newark, OH): Mobile, Alabama was the winner. Portland from the Pacific NW Region finished 3-1 in Pool Play and made it all the way to the final game, losing 12-1 in the Championship game to Alabama.
  • Umpire-in-Chief Report

UIC Jim Marcotte reported that there are no rule changes or anything coming down the pike, at least that he is aware of. Pretty much everything will stay the same in 2011. The only issue they had was at the 13 year old tournament in Ellensburg as there was some confusion on the final day due to the tiebreaker situation which will be discussed in new business. Assistant State Commissioner Bill Peterson requested that Jim review the pay structure to clear up any questions. Everything is $120 per game ($60 per umpire). In the championship bracket he highly recommends going to a 3 man crew, especially at the 16-18 level. Out of town umpires get a one time travel fee of $60. Accommodations are to be one room with two beds. This is all consistent with last year---no change. The question Bill had was really regarding what constitutes “out of town”, as he had to pay the travel fee to an umpire who lives 15 miles away in Sequim. Jim replied that if they are in a different city, they are out of town regardless of the amount of miles. Bill stated that they will alleviate the issue next time by giving them another hotel room to avoid the out of town fee.

  • Old Business

Pool Play versus Double Elimination:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff led a discussion on the issue in Ellensburg regarding the Pool Play tiebreaker situation. In summary, a number of people were applying criteria number 3 on the tiebreaker in several different ways. Randy now prefers Double-Elimination, but will still leave it up to the tournament hosts. We spent a good deal of time going over the Pacific Northwest Regional Pool Play & Tie-Breaker Format document to make sure everyone is aware exactly how it should work so we don’t have this situation arise again in the event that hosts still elect to go with Pool Play. As a very general statement, more than likely the 16-18 year old state tournaments will be using Double-Elimination format, and 13-15 will more than likely be Pool Play, but again, it is up to the Host.
  • New Business

State Tournament issues in Kent & Ellensburg:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff already covered the Ellensburg issues above in old business. The issues in Kent were illegal players. There are to be no players from Pierce County. We had a very lengthy discussion around this issue, as this is not the first time this has happened. District Commissioner Les Dow spent a lot of time making sure all the teams were aware that Pierce County players are not allowed, since that area is included in Southern Washington. Assistant State Commissioner Brent Stenman backed up Les Dow, as he was copied on a number of e-mails from Les Dow to those teams. Unfortunately, it seems that the e-mails are going to the highest level official for those teams, and not the actual coaches of the teams, so they either didn’t get that information, or didn’t care. The biggest offender was the Puget Sound Shockers, and their program is now on probation in terms of whether or not they would be allowed to participate in a State Tournament again at this time. Their head coach is now suspended from having a team in the State Tournament regardless of what team it is. The Kent Bulldogs self-reported their one illegal player, although it does seem that they knew that player was illegal based on a conversation that their team officials had with Randy Boruff prior to the Tournament. There was also no official scorekeeper for the Kent tournament. In the future we need to make sure every Tournament Host is aware ahead of time that they must have an official scorekeeper for the Tournament, and they must keep track of pitching records at the 13-15 level.

New “Special Assistant” State Commissioner:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff announced that Bill Peterson is no longer the 16-18 Assistant State Commissioner. He is now the “Special Assistant” Assistant State Commissioner.

New Assistant State Commissioner:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff announced that District 5 Commissioner Steven Smith is the new 16-18 Assistant State Commissioner.

New District 5 Commissioner:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff announced that Randy Graham of Ellensburg is the new District 5 Commissioner.

Regional (16-18) in Port Angeles in 2011:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff announced that the 2011 16-18 Regional will be in Port Angeles.

World Series (16-18) in Ephrata in 2010:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff announced that the 2011 16-18 World Series will be held in Ephrata. Babe Ruth decided to back out of Newark, Ohio as the annual location for that World Series, and needed a host for 2011, so the asked Randy to consider being the Host, since they know he can pull it off on short notice. After 2011 they will put that tournament out for bid every year like every other age group.

World Series (13) in Poulsbo/Kitsap County in 2012:

  • State Commissioner Randy Boruff announced that Poulsbo/Kitsap County will be the host of the 13 year old World Series in 2012. At this point of the meeting Randy pointed out that he is not very organized.

State Tournament interest:

  • Kent has already expressed an interest in the 2011 16-18 State Tournament. Wenatchee may want the 14 year old State Tournament. Port Angeles may have an interest in the 13 year old Tournament, and North Kitsap may have an interest in the 13 year old Tournament. Jim Allen will check with Anacortes to see if they have any interest in any Tournaments.

Regional Tournament interest:

  • Port Angeles has the 2011 16-18 Regional Tournament. Nobody else expressed any interest in any Regional Tournament at this time.
  • 2011 State Tournament Sites/Dates

13 State Tournament: Open at this time.

14 State Tournament: Open at this time.

13-15 State Tournament: Open at this time.

16-18 State Tournament: Kent; The Tournament will likely run from July 13-18, with a report date of July 12.

  • 2011 Regional Tournament Sites/Dates

13 Regional Tournament: Kennewick, WA; No known report date at this time.

14 Regional Tournament: Salem, OR; No known report date at this time.

13-15 Regional Tournament: Hazel Del Metro (Vancouver), WA; No known report date at this time.

16-18 Regional Tournament: Port Angeles, WA; The Tournament will likely run from July 20-24, with a report date of July 19.

  • 2011 World Series Sites/Dates

13 World Series: Report date August 17th in Clifton Park, NY.

14 World Series: Report date August 18th in Glen Allen, VA.

13-15 World Series: Report date August 18th in Jamestown, NY.

16-18 World Series: Report date August 4th in Ephrata, WA.

  • Spring Meeting

The spring meeting will be held in March or April, probably at the same location.

  • Closing Remarks

Randy thanked everyone for participating, and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:00.

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