Sandlot baseball league gives out trophies

Players and their families gathered at Firemen’s Field in Valley Stream on Aug. 1 for the awarding of trophies for the Valley Stream Sandlot Baseball League’s spring season.

“I know it’s a very trying experience to get kids out for the first time,” said Bob Inzerillo, league president, as he spoke about the Bambino Division, which has the league’s youngest players. “Playing tea ball, showing them which way to run — first base, not to third — in the field, where to throw the ball, get them to not play with dirt, get them to not run around the outfield while the game is going on; it’s not easy, I know.”

The crowd murmured with chuckles.

“The attention span isn’t really there,” Inzerillo continued, “but it’s their first introduction to baseball, so it’s something they gotta go through.”

Players between 7 and 9 years old were allowed to pitch this year, which was one to two years earlier than the previous rules had dictated. The league’s sponsors and events coordinator, Alex Carr, said that resulted in a learning curve.

Carr, who coached the Cubs, said it was nice to watch players improve throughout the season. “When you see a kid turning around, when at the beginning he didn’t know how to throw a ball or swing a bat, and now, all of a sudden, he’s hitting a home run or throwing a guy out, or making a catch, and you see his face light up, it’s like, OK, all their hard work is worth it,” he said.