Long Beach Baseball Day takes the field

Long Beach High School baseball has been taking the field for quite some time. As a matter of fact, Sunday celebrated just how long they’ve been around — 100 seasons.

The school’s varsity team gathered at the recreation center fields for “Long Beach Baseball Day,” along with Long Beach baseball alumni, to acknowledge their history. There were speeches from the alumni, Head Coach Jason Zizza and Andy Hayes, the president of the Long Beach/Lido Beach Little League.

The day was surely about the past and current teams, but it was about the future teams as well. When that morning’s Little League parade finished up at the rec center, the varsity team held a clinic, teaching the fundamentals of the game to the younger kids. Coaches were there, but the players led the charge.

“It’s all player-driven,” head coach Jason Zizza said of the clinic. “The Long Beach High School varsity baseball players are the coaches at the clinic. We feel that it’s a great way for the team to connect with the community and show our faces and have that peer mentoring going. Our players really enjoy working with younger kids.”

Throughout the clinic, the team was raising money — not for themselves, but for the Nassau/Suffolk Autism Society. There were raffle tickets for baskets with gifts including beach needs, food and treats, apparel and gift cards. The grand prize was four tickets to a Yankees game in August.

In all, the team raised $2,170 for the organization.

“We wanted to raise money for a really special charity during our Long Beach baseball day because we always like to do something great for charity,” Zizza said. “This year we chose a grassroots organization, that help children with autism and their families, whether that be education or anything else. And, 100 percent of all of their donations and everything that they do goes directly to helping families in Nassau and Suffolk County.”

During the clinic, there were several stations set up for the players. There were throwing, catching, fielding and hitting stations. Shortly after the clinic began, though, some rain began falling, which hindered it a bit.

“I think the weather might have hindered the amount of people that showed up a little bit, but there was still a really a really good turnout,” assistant coach Eric Krywe said. “After we got to the fields, after the speeches, we got the kids started and it was like they were shot out of a cannon. They were so excited.”

After the clinic, the team was treated to pizza and a 100th-anniversary cake inside the rec center’s hockey rink facility. Even though there was some rain, “they still had great camaraderie and it was a good team-building activity,” Krywe said.

“As a parent in the community with my own two Little Leaguers, I get to see the full gamut,” Krywe said. “It’s just so rewarding to see the connection for the community. My sons and all these little league kids look up to high school kids like they’re big leaguers. It’s great to see that connection from Little League all the way through the high school level and as a parent, and as a coach, I see it while wearing two separate hats.”