Sports
Baseball is Back, Little League Ready for 2011 Season
Players welcomed at tryouts this weekend, new rules in place for season opener on April 24.
Managers and coaches of the program greeted over 90 hopefuls at the high school field house Saturday morning. The 12, 11 and 10 year-olds were all hoping to make an impression at tryouts for the 2011 Little League season.
The gym was filled with wide-eyed boys looking to land spots on minor and major league rosters this year. 11 players will be placed on the six Swampscott major league teams this season. The Nahant Orioles and Nahant Red Sox will play in the majors as well. The Nahant Athletics will play in the minors.
The players hit, threw, chased fly balls and fielded balls hit off the basketball court under the watchful eyes of representatives of the Blue Jays, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Athletics and Indians.
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Last year's champs, the Blue Jays, will have a new a new coach this season, after winning the title in 2010. Robert Hopkins moves over from the Yankees to take over the White Sox. Louis Olivieri moves from the Blue Jays to the Red Sox.
The Phillies won the minor league title in 2010, and many of their players will be moving up to the majors this season.
Find out what's happening in Swampscottfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Al Duratti will join manager Jim Lombard in the Yankees dugout. Coach Al has been with the Yankees since the league was founded in 1954.
After 56 years of coaching, Duratti is excited to get the season underway.
“It’s always good to get the season going, I enjoy being around the players,” Duratti said. “When I see one of my former players come back and say that their Little League experience was good, it’s a great feeling.”
Ed Mulvey will help run the Indians, Steve Allen the Athletics and Rusty Hopkins will call the shots from the Blue Jays bench this season.
"Everyone's trying to do their best, to make a few plays and have some fun," Yankees manager Jim Lombard said.
"We'll have 11 boys on each team," league president Scott Sagan said. ""Our numbers are down, but numbers are down nationwide, kids are playing soccer and lacrosse in the spring now."
“We’ve actually had a better winter this year than last year, so hopefully we’ll be getting out on the fields quickly.”
All players will now play three innings a game, up from two innings last season. There are also new restrictions on what types of bats can be used in Swampscott Little League, the entire list of approved bats is available on the league’s website, www.swampscotll.org.
