Riverhead Little League players took the field at Stotzky Park this morning for the 2015 season opening ceremonies, the last opening day for retiring league president Anthony Sammartano. The veteran Little League officer is calling it quits at the conclusion of the season — his 18th year with the league and 15th as its president.
“Tony kept Riverhead Little League vital and flourishing for 15 years,” ex-coach and former board member Anthony Napoli said. He said he started out coaching Little League the same year as Sammartano: 1996. “I feel like Mariano Rivera saying goodbye to Derek Jeter,” Napoli joked.
“Riverhead Little League was founded 60 years ago and it’s more than a venue for playing baseball or softball,” Napoli told the crowd of players, coaches, parents and grandparents assembled on and around field number four. “It’s a mission to have boys and girls develop citizenship, physical fitness, character, courage and loyalty,” he said.
The league is fielding 25 teams this season, Sammartano said. There are almost 400 players. But finding volunteers to coach those teams was a real challenge this year, he said. The league is also desperately in need of volunteers to serve on the board — all but one board member is leaving the board after this season, he said.
Sammartano made a pitch for adults to get involved. “You don’t need to have a child in the league to sit on the board or coach,” he said.
“You may not know it now but someday you’ll look back on these days as the best memories of your life,” Sammartano told parents in the crowd. Addressing the players he said: “Give it your all. Give it your dedication. And most important, make sure you do good in school.”
Sammartano said he made the decision to back away from the post he’s held for so long because “it was just time.”
He threw out the first pitch of the day to his 6-year-old son, John Vincent.
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter and Councilman John Dunleavy were on hand to commemorate opening day.
“He’s done a lot of hard work for Riverhead Little League,” Dunleavy said of Sammartano. “He’ll be missed a lot.”
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Denise Civiletti
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