Youth Baseball and Softball Teams Play In Championships, Prepare For Fall Season
By Kevin Gosztola, Editor
Several Elmwood Park baseball and softball teams played in championship games to end the spring and summer season, and Elmwood Park Baseball and Softball is now wrapping up registration for youth, who would like to participate in the fall season.
The twelve-year-old softball team won the Franklin Park House Heroes Tournament. The same team also played in a championship game in Melrose Park and finished as a runner-up.
In the Lion’s Roar Tournament in Palatine, the nine-year-old baseball team walked away as champions. The eight-year-old baseball team finished as the runner-up in the Bensenville Slugfest Tournament.
The community baseball and softball league is known simply as Elmwood Park Baseball and Softball. You can spot teams as they practice on the fields at the elementary and middle schools, and the program is part of the Chicago Suburban Youth Baseball Association (CSYBA).
Steve “Reno” Subach, who manages the program, was born and raised in Elmwood Park, and he played baseball when the village had a youth baseball league on the north side and south side. There were plenty of kids playing baseball, which meant teams did not have to travel around the suburbs for games.
“Nowadays with other things going on with kids, with electronics and what not, not a lot of kids play sports so a lot of these towns don’t have enough participants to run a full house league,” Subach said. So Elmwood Park joined the CSYBA, and the league makes a schedule for teams. They “play other neighboring towns that have teams but don’t have enough teams” for a “full schedule.”
The fall season is from around August 20 to mid-October. Elmwood Park teams typically play teams in towns like Bensenville, Franklin Park, North Lake, River Grove, and Schiller Park. Often teams have to travel for playoff games, but otherwise, games tend to be between surrounding communities.
Registration is open for T-ball and baseball and softball for ages six to 14 years old. It closes on Sunday, August 9.
Subach told the newsletter, “I don’t think a lot of kids even know we have registration. I get a lot of people coming up to us during practices, like oh, what is this like? I didn’t even know about this.” He plans to work this year with the Elmwood Park school district to put up flyers at schools. That way more youth, and their parents or guardians, are aware of the program.
The program, which residents can follow on Facebook, is funded through registration and sponsorships by community businesses. If a business sponsors a team at a certain level, then that business may put their name on the team’s shirts. Families of children on that team are also encouraged to patronize that business, especially if they are a local restaurant.
Program costs add up quickly. According to Subach, “any dollar that comes in goes right out for the season, with equipment and resources,” umpire fees, and fielding fees.
“For example, this spring we went through double the amount of quick-dry sand and stuff that we used for the field,” Subach mentioned. “It barely rained last spring, and this April we used an entire season and a half worth of quick-dry in about five or six days.”
Fundraisers, like selling popcorn or partnering with Culver’s, help the program pay expenses, too.
Subach has managed the baseball and softball program for two full seasons. Since he took over, he said that the number of kids participating has grown from around 225 to 350 last spring.
It used to be that only five or six year-olds played T-ball. Subach opened up the program so that children as young as three years old may register for a team. And then this fall, the program is expanding to include 16 year-olds.
Games are typically played when coaches and fields are available. That can make it difficult if a child on the team also has football or basketball practice. Plus, if there is rain, the games are rescheduled to days that may be used for baseball or softball practice.
The coaches are volunteers. “We do background checks,” Subach shared. Just about every coach has a child on the team that they are coaching.
During the last season, the biggest struggle was finding coaches to volunteer for the T-Ball and the six-year-old teams.
“I had a few coaches that I was like, hey, I know you’ve got a little bit of a sports background,” Subach commented. “I’m going to lean on you. I need someone from this team to coach. I need you to step up and a couple of them stepped up to coach, and then they came back and they were like, hey man, I really appreciate you pushing me to do that. I had a really great time. I learned a lot, and I want to do it again.”
Subach also recalled, “I played baseball, but I was never a coach.” But now, “I’ve got a good knack of how to get these kids motivated, how to get them going, where to teach them, how to teach them. You pick it up.”
“T-ball takes a village, we always say. So we try to get all the parents to roll up their sleeves and help out with the T-ball games. Because the more that help out, the better.”
“My older son is going into 10U, and my younger son is going into 8U now. So we’ve been a part of a couple of teams, where the more you’re involved and active with the team, the more it’s going to be enjoyable for everybody. That’s what I say to the parents,” Subach added.
While there are still spots on Elmwood Park baseball and softball teams, according to a July 30 update, those spots are “filling fast.”