Ralphs Tavern

Gold Legends League and Gold Senior League games on Monday morning March 20, 2023 have been cancelled due to weather conditions. Reschedules will be shown on the League website calendar.

Welcome all new and returning players to our soon-to-begin Spring 2023 Season! Evaluation days are now complete, and while the draft is underway, we have some open practices this week for you at the Hobgood Park diamonds, weather permitting. Here’s the basic schedule, but if weather gets in the way of your league’s practice, just come to any practice you can make.

Monday March 6th 9:30a.m.-12:00 noon (Open to Cornerstone and Les Taylor Leagues)
Tuesday March 7th 6:45 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (Open to Masters, Legacy and Patriot Leagues)
Wednesday March 8th 6:45 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (Open to Legacy and Masters Leagues)
Thursday March 9th 6:45 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. (Open to Skip Wells League)

All new and returning players are encouraged to attend practice on the day(s) and or night(s) your league regularly plays, with Masters and Legacy practice dates interchangeable. This is a great opportunity to get some swings in and field some balls under the lights for evening players. See you at practice!

Note: Some leagues will start their season the week of March 13th, and others will start the week of March 20th. You’ll hear from your managers when the draft is complete.

CSSA BOARD MEETING MINUTES
February 6, 2023

The meeting of the CSSA Board of Directors was held February 6th, 2023, at Wicked Wings, Kennesaw, and called to order by Norman Thiem at 6:40 P.M.

Board Members Present: Norman Thiem, Dick O’Connor, Mike Maguire, Dewey Hom, Maria Burden, Bob Werner, Mike Parson, Leland Brown, Robbie Crider, John Humeston, Randy Bergman, Dan Bonham, James Bauch, Ray DeLuca and Steve Fleming.

No Board Members were absent. Marty Aftewicz and Anne Ryan were guests.

A. Minutes of the January 11, 2023 meeting, having been emailed to all, were Board approved.
B. Pre-Registration Online: As of today, 129 members have pre-registered and paid their fees at the payment portal. All returning players must pay their fees, (preferably online) by March 4th. Players cannot play in a game until their fees are paid. Here is the returning players payment link:
https://www.cssasoftball.org/product-category/uncategorized/
C. 2022 Sponsors: A draft of a new sponsor brochure was presented by Norman Thiem and was well received. As of today, 17 sponsors have paid their 2023 fees, and Ray DeLuca is working actively to secure payments. All members of CSSA are encouraged to seek new sponsors for teams in our growing organization. Sponsors receive a great deal of community recognition and patronage from our organization. Dan Bonham has made fee payment easier with a new online payment portal for sponsors at this link: https://www.cssasoftball.org/product-category/sponsor/
D. League Reports on Returning Players: Each league director reported on the results of their manager polls of which players will be returning to play the Spring 2023 season. New players are needed in every league, as always due to attrition from injuries, illness or players moving up or down to a different league this year.
E. Spring 2023 Evaluations: Evaluation dates are February 25th & 26th from 12-2 p.m. and March 4th and 5th from 12-2 p.m., at the turf fields behind Hobgood Park. Directional signs will be posted along Towne Lake Parkway to ensure that new players can find the location on tryout days. Information will also be posted on the NextDoor App. CSSA has established a new phone number for interested new players to call for info on tryouts: (770) 400-9121. Mike Parson confirmed which volunteers would perform which jobs at evaluations, and Maria Burden and Anne Ryan established the procedure they would use for on-site new player registration and payments. Dan Bonham will create a special payment portal for new players, since they are not yet assigned to a league. We are hoping for 40-50 new players.
F. New Player Packets: Sample packets were distributed to everyone present, for review and suggestions for any necessary revisions for 2023. Stacie will make any necessary updates and prepare packets for the evaluation days, when all new players will receive a packet after their tryout.
G. Game Scheduling: James Bauch recommended that no games be scheduled during spring break as many families will be away on vacation and it may be difficult to get enough players to fill lineups that week. It was decided that league directors, with input from team managers, should decide specifically for their leagues whether or not to schedule games during spring break.
H. New League Proposal: Throughout 2022 Marty Aftewicz coordinated a regular pickup game on Thursday mornings at Skip Wells. The group regularly had 28 players each week, and they played 10 games. They play using league-specific rules of the Lowell Lawson league and the group is composed of players who are aging to the point where they might have a reduced skill level, making play in the currently available leagues difficult or dangerous.

Marty presented a formal written proposal that a new league be established in fall 2023, possibly called “Dreamers,” for these players. The league would begin with a spring 2023 season of 10 pickup games while preparations are made for the league to formally start in fall 2023 with 2-4 teams of 16 players per team. Not all players can play a full game and more player absences should be expected in this league.

The criterion for inclusion in this league would not be age, but diminished player performance due to injury or natural age progression. Currently, players donate $3.00 per game to pay for equipment and accessories. Umpires volunteered for each game. Lewis Newman generously paid for the field rental for each game last year and will continue to do so for the proposed spring season until the league becomes self-supporting through regular player fees in the fall. Marty proposes that through donations, umpires be paid for the spring season and any fees in excess of those needed to pay the umpire will go toward the purchase of infielder protective masks. Spring season softballs will continue to be donated by Steve Fachler and many other offers were made for supplies of softballs by various board members.
The proposal was anonymously accepted by the Board and plans will go forward to include the new league in the CSSA organization for fall 2023.

Norman Thiem reminded League Directors and Team Managers that they must tell returning players to pay all fees online by March 4th. Players must pay fees before they will be allowed to play.

The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. The next BOD meeting will be Monday, March 6th at 6:30 p.m. at Wild Wings, Kennesaw.

Cherokee Senior Softball’s spring season starts in just five weeks! With 500 members ranging in age from 49-90, and with eight leagues and about 38 teams, we have a league that fits every ability level. Many of our new members haven’t played softball for thirty years until joining our organization. All new player evaluations are based on abilities, and not ages. CSSA softball is more fun than you can imagine, with a ten week spring season and a ten week fall season, weekly stats and standings posted here on our website, awesome new jerseys, and a year-end awards banquet. So come on out to evaluations and get ready for some great recreation and camaraderie.

New player evaluations will be held:
Saturday, February 25th 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Sunday, February 26th 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Saturday, March 4th 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Sunday, March 5th 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Location: The turf field on the east edge of Hobgood Park, in Woodstock Georgia, accessible through the east entrance to the park off Towne Lake Parkway. Bring I.D. and a credit or debit card to pay fees on evaluation day. Click below for a map to evaluations:
https://www.teampages.com/photo_albums/150335-Map-to-Hobgood-Turf-Field--photo-album/album_photos/6339078

Fees for the 10-week spring season are only $55.00, payable online at https://www.cssasoftball.org/product-category/uncategorized/

If you know of anyone who would be interested in playing, please put the word out regarding new player evaluations. All men and women are welcome to join in. There are leagues playing at Hobgood Park (corner of Bells Ferry and Towne Lake Parkway in Woodstock, Georgia) on Monday and Wednesday mornings as well as Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and Thursday nights at Skip Wells Park off Bells Ferry Road in Marietta, Georgia. Players can be in several leagues if schedules/abilities permit.

Spring season starts the week of March 13, 2023 – weather permitting. For more information, please call 770-400-9121 or email nthiem@aol.com. In the event of inclement weather a notice will be posted here on TeamPages.

CSSA BOARD MEETING MINUTES
January 11, 2023

The first 2023 meeting of the CSSA Board of Directors was held January 11th, 2023, at Wicked
Wings, Kennesaw, and called to order by Norman Thiem at 6:50 P.M.
Board Members Present: Norman Thiem, Dick O’Connor, Mike Maguire, Dewey Hom, Maria
Burden, Bob Werner, Mike Parson, Leland Brown, Robbie Crider, John Humeston, Randy
Bergman and Steve Fleming.
Board Members Dan Bonham, James Bauch, Ray DeLuca were absent. Marty Aftewicz was a
guest.

A. Minutes of the November 7 , 2022 meeting, having been emailed to all, were Board
approved.
B. 2022 Sponsors: Most sponsors are returning for 2023, and some paid their sponsor
fees before the end of 2022, which was helpful for year-end financials. Door-2-Door,
Leaf Cremations, Becketts and AIMC are no longer sponsors. Latham Town Mules, TAC
and Mellow Mushroom are new sponsors. Woodstock Funeral Home returns as a
sponsor in 2023.
C. Treasurer/Financial Report: Norman Thiem presented a complete profit/loss report, a
balance sheet for year-end 2022 and a report of financial considerations for 2023. With
the cost of new jerseys in 2022, the organization shows a negative net income at
year-end, but this was a one time occurrence, and additional jerseys will only be required
for newly sponsored teams for 2023 so this will not be an ongoing issue.
D. CRPA Banquet: Eight board members will attend the annual CRPA Banquet January
19, 2023 to represent the CSSA.
E. Big Ball Indoor Softball Games at D-Bat Kennesaw: Mike Parson has organized
weekly recreational softball games at D-Bat Kennesaw. Emails will be sent out with info
for upcoming games/times. Using a 16” softball, this fun and fast-moving indoor game is
great fellowship and a way to stay fit and keep engaged in the game when practices are
not possible due to cold and/or rainy weather.
F. Spring 2023 Tryouts: Norman Thiem distributed informational business cards to board
members with dates and times for the tryouts. Cards will be handed out and/or posted to
get the word out. He also has signs in production which will be distributed to board
members for placement around the area to bring in as many new players as possible. As
previously decided, tryout dates are February 25th & 26th from 12-2 p.m. and March 4th
and 5th from 12-2 p.m., at the turf fields behind Hobgood Park. Directional signs will
be posted along Towne Lake Parkway to ensure that new players can find the location
on tryout days. Information will also be posted on the NextDoor App. CSSA has
established a new phone number for interested new players to call for info on tryouts:
(770) 400-9121.
G. 2023 Player Fees: As of January 1st, the online payment portal at
https://www.cssasoftball.org/product-category/uncategorized/ is ready for acceptance of
Spring 2023 player fees, and to date, 27 players have paid their Spring 2023 fees online.
All returning players are encouraged to pay their fees online ASAP, and should
definitely pay fees by March 4th. Managers should be reminding returning players to
pay fees online as directed above.
H. Proposed Rule Change: Dick offered a proposed rule change to move the pitching
screen closer to the pitcher (from 15 feet to 14 feet). After a discussion, the proposal was
rejected by unanimous consensus.

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. The next BOD meeting will be Wednesday, February 8th at
6:30 p.m. at Wild Wings, Kennesaw.