NJSSA Meetings and News

Held on 12/17/2011 at Omega Diner, North Brunswick, NJ

1.      Softballs – Most of the leagues are using Trump softballs and only Morris and Union Counties will order Dudley SB-12 softballs directly from Route 18 Sports.

2.      Newsletter – Howie Marlin is again looking for articles of interest about players from your league, maybe about the type of work they did (or do) and any special interests they may have.  If any players from your league have passed away during the past year, please send their names to Howie Marlin so they may be added to the "IN MEMORIAM" list in the Newsletter, which continues to grow each year. We should not forget any of our deceased Senior Softballers.

3.      Bats – The use of rolled bats was discussed and the feeling was that rolled bats will not have much of an effect on league or state tournament play.  The concern is where a player has the top of a bat removed and the inside of the bat is doctored to make for a more potent bat.

4.      Insurance – All leagues appear to be getting their insurance through SSUSA and it is advisable to apply for the insurance as soon after 1/1/2012 as possible, because as we all know, fields cannot be secured without liability insurance certificates.

5.      Rosters and Dues – It is again requested that all rosters be computerized by using the roster form that is on the NJSSA website of njseniorsoftball.com.  Computerized rosters will facilitate the operation of the State Tournaments and the rosters will also be used to update the mailing list for the Newsletter.  League Officials should advise all Managers in their league that rosters are due by June 1, 2012.  If you are not able to computerize the rosters, please get someone in your league to do it.  One check for NJSSA dues of $5 per player should be submitted to Howie Marlin, 222 Castlewall Avenue, Elberon, NJ 07740.

6.      State Tournaments – The state tournament dates have been set as follows:

              50+---August 25-26           Rain Dates---September 15-16
              60+---September 8-9         Rain Dates---September 22-23
              70+---July 11                     Rain Date---July 18

It was agreed that a representative from each county will help determine which bracket the teams from their league should participate in, as there is always controversy over the seeding of teams.  The representatives as of this date are Gerry Yaros and Bob Lorincz for Middlesex, Pete Osborn for Union, Pete DeRosa for Ocean, Emil Jennette for Monmouth and Tony Ciavatta for Morris.  If at league meetings, someone else is selected these reps may change.  By having league reps seed their league's teams; this will hopefully take the pressure off and alleviate all the complaints to Norm Stumpf and Howie Marlin in regard to team seeding.

7.      Tournament for Prostate Cancer – Gene Stracco, Commissioner of the Morris County 60+ Tuesday Morning League, stated he would like to have a state tournament for the benefit of Prostate Cancer.  It would probably be held in Randolph in August of 2013 and that he may have some sponsors for the tournament and a fee would also be collected from each team for donation to Prostate Cancer research.  Medical articles state that 1 in 4 men will have some type of prostate cancer and if we could do a small part for research that would be great.

8.      75+ Tournament – Bob Thorout of Morris County has advised that he has two 75+ teams that would like to play in a 75+ State Tournament.  Dick Raymond of Middlesex County stated he could field two teams, if 74 year old players are allowed.  Monmouth County may be able to provide one team and Union County may be able to provide one team.  All it takes is for someone to review the league rosters to determine if any players were born in 1938 or earlier and then ask them if they would be interested in playing in a one day tournament.

9.      NEXT MEETING – The next meeting will be as follows:  

DATE:     January 21, 2011 (Saturday)
TIME:      9:00 AM
PLACE:   Omega Diner, North Brunswick, NJ