Little League merger planned

Seventeen years after they were split because of explosive growth, the two Little Leagues that serve the east side of Roseville will reunite for the 2009 spring baseball season.In 1992, with more than 800 total players on the books, Dick Gold, the president of Roseville East Little League and his board of directors proposed and had approved the decision to split into two leagues, with Roseville East continuing to use Crestmont Park and a new Maidu Little League operating with Maidu Park as its base of operations.Today, Gold is the District Administrator for Little League Baseball's District 11, which is based in Rocklin."At the time the leagues split, we had over 800 kids with an expected growth rate of 10 percent," Gold said. "It made sense to split the league at that time, but we also knew that eventually the area may face a declining number of young families and we tried to plan for that eventuality."Little League District 54, which covers Roseville, Granite Bay, Folsom and the communities that continue up Highway 50 through El Dorado Hills and Placerville and beyond, is in the midst of consolidating a number of its leagues. According to District 54 Administrator Bob Fogle, this merger of leagues is one of three that will take effect for the 2009 season."With the mergers of Hangtown and Timber Little Leagues into Gold Rush Little League and the joining of Ponderosa and Pony Express into a single Ponderosa Little League, along with this merger, our district will become stronger as we foster more competition and smaller leagues become bigger," Fogle said.The merger of Maidu and Roseville East Little Leagues will result is a league of in excess of 500 players that will carry the name of Maidu Little League. The leagues will continue to use both Maidu Park and Crestmont Park as they look to strengthen the community that surrounds their organization.Sarah Marakas is the parent of three boys who spent a number of years in Maidu Little League before a change of address moved them to neighboring Roseville East."It's about time," Marakas commented when asked for her thoughts on the combination of the two leagues. "My kids are excited that they will finally be able to play baseball with the kids they go to school with. I never understood why school boundaries were not taken into account when the leagues were split in the first place.""I love Maidu Park," she added. "There is such a sense of community. It truly is a great place to watch baseball. When I'm going to a major game and I walk by the t-ball field it puts a smile on my face to watch those kids play ball. I truly feel like I've come home."Getting approval from Little League International to merge leagues is not an easy task. While there are certainly benefits in terms of all-star competition to having a larger league, that is not a factor when a decision is made to allow two leagues to merge."Little League looks at things like housing, school enrollment, real estate trends, and things like an aging population in a given area when evaluating these requests." Fogle said. "Also, both boards must have unanimous agreement before the process can proceed."The desire to join the two leagues together was not new this year, as the two leagues had explored the issue on a number of occasions over the past five years. The first such attempt was undertaken when Dwayne Bertrand was the president of Maidu Little League."When we first addressed this, the timing was just not right," Bertrand said. "With the population in our community continuing to mature, a lot has changed in the past few years. These are two great communities that will unite and create a wonderful baseball league."During the four years that she has served as the president of Maidu Little League, Kim Boone has revisited this issue on an annual basis, until finally the time was right. She led a committee comprised of board members from both leagues in building a compelling proposal that won approval from the international organization in Williamsport Pennsylvania.One of the biggest issues that led to the approval of this merger at this time was a steady decline in enrollment in Roseville East Little League. With the league being landlocked, and with fewer young families moving into its boundaries, Roseville East had seen its numbers cut in half in recent years.Greg Zanolli, the vice president of Roseville East Little League in 2008 and a member of the 2009 combined board of directors, has been around the league for six years and is thrilled to see the merger coming about now. "I am excited about a merger as it should bring a great deal of energy back to the baseball community in east Roseville," Zanolli said. "Running a league is a great deal of work and with a combined league of over 500 players it should be a much easier to find volunteers to assist with the huge task of putting together a first class experience for the kids."In anticipation of the merger's approval, the two leagues joined together for the fall baseball season, which is currently underway. Sean Harrigan is the newly elected president who will preside over the first year of the new Maidu Little League."I believe that the larger league will create a stronger level of competition," Harrigan commented. "That new level of competition will help all of our players progress faster and become better players."