Board of Selectmen

Recreation Seeks $50,000 To Light Second Girls’ Softball Field at Waveny

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Participation in New Canaan softball has grown so much in recent years that in order to provide adequate practice time, a second field at Waveny should get lights for this coming fall season, officials said last week. The organization that runs youth programs here, New Canaan Softball, has already raised $75,000 to light what’s known as the “Water Tower field,” and the Recreation Department is requesting an additional $50,000 from the town during this budget season. New Canaan Softball is anticipating 240 girls in the program this year, up from 90 just five years ago, Recreation Director Steve Benko told members of the Board of Selectmen during a budget hearing held Thursday at Town Hall. 

Joined by Parks & Recreation Commission Chair Sally Campbell, Benko said girls’ softball in New Canaan “has seen a metamorphosis.”

“There’s interest in it and they need more field space,” Benko said. “And one problem is with the coaches’ availability, because they are all volunteer coaches, is the time to practice is in the evening. And we can use the Orchard Field until 9 o’clock at night, but the other field, the Water Tower field, there was approval for the lights and they are willing to raise money for the lights, and to have that second field lit to give them addition time for practices, it would help the overall program now that the numbers are going up, which is a great thing.”

The $50,000 capital request is part of the overall $271,500 that Recreation is seeking for fiscal year 2020.

Government

‘It’s a Lot of Fun’: Increasingly Popular New Canaan Softball Program Pursues Lighting Second Field at Waveny

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Saying more practice and playing time is needed to accommodate an increasingly popular program, the volunteers who run youth softball in New Canaan are proposing the installation of lights on a second field at Waveny. Lighting what’s known as the “Water Tower Field”—located alongside the milled, soon-to-be-expanded parking lot near the water towers, its outfield backs into that of the varsity “Orchard Field”—would enable New Canaan Softball and other youth sports programs to run dozens of additional practices and games for three seasons of the year, according to representatives from the nonprofit organization. “Our league is growing exponentially,” New Canaan Softball President Robin Biasotti told members of the Parks & Recreation Commission at their Sept. 11 meeting, held at Lapham Community Center. “Every year, every season, it keeps getting more and more.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

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Town Treasurer Andrew Brooks told members of the Town Council on Wednesday night that New Canaan’s General Fund balances as of Dec. 31 were up about $8 million over the prior year—an indication, he said, that many residents prepaid their tax bills to take full advantage of a deduction to be capped now at $10,000. ***

The Police Commission on Wednesday night voted 3-0 to approve April 22 and Sept. 16 dates for Caffeine & Carburetors. Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said the auto enthusiasts’ gathering “runs very well.” The Parks & Recreation Commission is scheduled to vote Feb.

News

End of an Era: Danielle Simoneau Steps Down as NCHS Softball Coach; Joel Geriak Named Successor

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The highly successful and widely respected head coach of the New Canaan High School varsity softball team has stepped down, officials said Monday. Danielle Simoneau decided to make the change in order to watch her own daughter Makenzie—a freshman at Trumbull High School—play, according to NCHS Athletic Director Jay Egan. “We are very grateful for all the time and effort Danielle has given to build the softball program at NCHS and in the community,” Egan said in an email to softball families. “NCHS softball was a perennially weak program before Danielle came on board. We won an FCIAC Championship under her leadership and the youth softball program is viable option for girls in the spring.”

Named to the NCHS post in 2010, Simoneau herself was a standout pitcher, and powerful hitter, at Westhill High School in the early 1990s.

Business

New Sponsors Step Up To Support NC Softball; Program Sees Rapid Growth

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For decades, iconic New Canaan business Karl Chevrolet has sponsored—and continues to sponsor—little league baseball teams in town. The national Chevrolet company runs a program that distributes funds to specific youth leagues through the 1927-established Elm Street business and local Chevy dealers. This summer, Karl Chevy is expanding its support to include one of New Canaan’s rapidly growing sports for girls: softball. “We’ve met a couple of families from the program and they asked for help,” said Steve Karl, a VP at Karl Chevy and former Bantam league Huron who graduated in 1980 from New Canaan High School. “We said yes, we would do it this year.”

Sponsors for softball have nearly doubled year-over-year, according to Jeff Fortmann, a town resident handling community relations for New Canaan Softball.