Baseball season begins in Wantagh

See more photos from opening day here.

One a day that truly felt like baseball season, the Wantagh Little League began play. But before the first batters stepped to the plate, players, their parents and coaches marched through town for the Opening Day parade, which was then followed by a ceremony behind Wantagh Elementary School.

The April 18 parade began and the 5&10 and finished up behind the school. Leading the way were American Legion Post 1273 and Wantagh Pipe Band. At sunny Ciminelli Field, Little League President Ray Whitaker welcomed the hundred of people in attendance. Erin Bortell sang the National Anthem.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer was on hand to wish the players a great season. Schumer, who played third base for his Little League while growing up in Brooklyn, said that youth baseball teaches teamwork, sportsmanship and courage. “You learn things that are going to help you become a better adult,” he said.

New Nassau County Legislator Steve Rhoads, who played for the Wantagh Little League as a kid and was outfitted in a Wantagh Fire Department baseball jersey, recalled his games behind the old Sunrise Park Elementary School. “For me,” he said, “growing up there were only two seasons. It was either winter, or it was baseball season.”

First pitches were thrown out by Wantagh Board of Education trustees Kera McLoughlin and Anne Marie Sturniolo, Superintendent Maureen Goldberg, Hempstead Town Councilwoman and Wantagh resident Erin King Sweeney, Rhoads and Assemblyman Dave McDonough.

This year, there are about 550 players on 45 teams, according to Whitaker. The league is open to boys and girls ages 4-18. The first games were played last Saturday after the Opening Day ceremony concluded, and the season ends June 20 with Wantagh’s World Series.