Government

Town To Take Up Modified Application for Overhaul of Little League Baseball Fields at Mead

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Town officials are scheduled Monday to vote on a modified application filed on behalf of New Canaan Baseball to improve the little league fields at Mead Park. Unveiled 18 months ago, plans call for installing turf o the infields at Mellick and Gamble Fields as well as increased playability, improved drainage and new backstops, scoreboard and fencing. Originally, the project was to start last fall and also was to include new light poles and a re-oriented Game Field, but higher-than-expected cost estimates connected to lighting forced New Canaan Baseball to push back the work to 2018 and forego replacement of existing light poles and fixtures. According to an application received Feb. 20 by the New Canaan Inland Wetlands Department, changes to the original project include: Moving Mellick field slightly to the east and adjusting the left-field corner so that the existing light pole could be used; concrete dugouts on both fields now will be asphalt; outfield fencing on both fields has been adjusted slightly;

and a playground walkway west of Mellick Field will need to be replaced and that effort will be coordinated with planned improvements to the playground.

News

Officials Postpone Planned Overhaul of Little League Fields at Mead One Year Due To High Cost Estimates

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A widely anticipated plan to improve the little league baseball fields at Mead Park is being pushed back one year after those overseeing the project received higher-than-anticipated cost estimates, officials said Wednesday night. Unveiled last year, the project to create larger dimensions at Mellick and Gamble Fields and to install new fences, light poles, bleacher areas and a scoreboard originally had been pegged at about $950,000 and was to start this fall. Recently, however, a cost-estimate came back about $600,000 higher than that, according to Scott Werneburg, president of New Canaan Baseball, and officials are not willing to rush into a project now without further pricing out of materials as well as total confidence that it could be wrapped up by spring. “The prudent course of action was not wanting to risk onset of winter and not being able to compete our fields and risk losing our spring season,” he told members of the Town Council during their regular meeting, held at Town Hall. “And the smart course of action is to take our time, get through this process and hopefully have our selected contractor this fall and be able to order early and plan everything to go to construction in August next year after the baseball season has ended.”

The re-engineered project will accomplish many of the big-ticket items originally imagined, he said: turf on the infields, increased playability, improved drainage and new backstops, scoreboard and fencing.

News

Youth Sports Roundup: Wins for New Canaan Soccer, Baseball, Lax Teams

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Lacrosse

Grade 6 Red Girl’s Lacrosse Take Control Over Ridgefield

—submitted by Darleen Ferraro

The sun may not have been out, but that didn’t stop the Grade 6 Red team on their first game of the season as they took a 9-4 victory over Ridgefield 6 Black on Saturday, April 22, 2017. The rain came down but the score kept going up as Stella Nolan and Caroline Underwood led the goal scoring with 3 goals each. Shawna Ferraro, Ella Imbruce and Polly Parsons-Hills each had 1 goal. Two assists each were made by: Reagan Bailey, Katharine Byrne, and Caroline Langford. Stella Nolan had three assists.

News

New Canaan Baseball Rams 10U Off to 4-0 Start

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The New Canaan Baseball Rams’ 10-and-under team has come out of the gate with guns blazing this spring, outscoring opponents 41-12 on its way to a 4-0 start. BVSA Wood Bat Jamboree

Rams 12—Shrub Oak NY 0
Rams 6—BVSA Fury 0

Rams pitchers Bill Roscoe, Alex Werner, Chase Graber and Carter Heagle used their strong arms and teammates sticky gloves to record consecutive shutouts. Against Shrub Oak, Rams batters reached base 17 times, led by Ted Werner’s 3-3 performance, en route to 12 runs. Catcher Bradley Werneburg corralled a bouncing throw home to record the final put-out on a bang-bang play at the plate. Host BVSA fared no better.

Around Town

MLB’s Curt Casali to Host New Canaan Baseball Clinic

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Most New Canaan youth baseball players have dreams of one day playing in the Major Leagues. This upcoming Monday, those kids will have a chance to get up close and personal with a real-life major leaguer who—not too long ago—started his career on the very same fields they’re playing on today. Tampa Bay Rays catcher Curt Casali will return to New Canaan High School to headline a youth pitching/catching clinic on Monday, December 26th, from 12 to 2pm. Casali, a 2007 NCHS graduate, will be joined by current high school players as well as a veritable who’s-who of Rams baseball alumni, all of whom took their talents to the next level—collegiate baseball. This group includes Casey Ouellette (University of Bridgeport), David Giusti (Lafayette), Dan Rajkowski (UCONN), Zack Smith (Salve Regina), J.R. Anderson (Amherst) and Matt Toth (Trinity).