Saginaw Township South Little League opens 2011 season

Friday April, 29th marked the “opening day” of the little league baseball season for youngsters competing in the Saginaw Township South Little League.  The league plays their games at Rudy Zaul Park, 4540 Augustine rd.  The park is sandwiched between the “Sand hills” Neighborhood to the east, and Center Ave. to the West, in the Southwestern corner of Saginaw Township.

For the past 5 years, Brandon Rose and Craig Marcoux have devoted countless hours volunteering on the S.T.S.L.L. board of directors. Their hard work insures a fun, competitive league that will feature the addition of a girl’s softball division this season.  “We already have a lot of girls who compete along with the boys in the baseball divisions,” S.T.S.L.L. President Brandon Rose said.  “With the growing popularity and competitiveness of girl’s softball at the High School level, we wanted to incorporate a softball division this year, giving the girl’s a choice to further develop their softball skills, or continue competing with the boys in baseball.”

A special guest was invited to get the 2011 season started Friday evening.  Vice President of the new girl’s softball division, Craig Marcoux asked Lisa (Ruffle) Guster to throw out the first pitch at Friday night’s opening ceremony.  Guster, who won a class B state title as a member of the 1981 Douglas MacArthur H.S. softball team, also holds the distinction as the first female in S.T.S.L.L. history to play baseball with the boys back in the 1975 season.  “I heard about her story, and I thought it would be a great idea to have her throw out the first pitch this year,” said Marcoux.  “We thought it would be appropriate to invite Lisa here to kick off our 2011 season, seeing this is our first year with a girl’s softball division, and Lisa was the first girl to compete in our league, it just made perfect sense to have her throwing out the first pitch.”

The girl’s softball season opened on Monday May, 2nd at White Pine Middle School.  Covenant Health Care defeated Anderson Eye Associates 3-2.

Saturday April, 30th was the day that most of the S.T.S.L.L. teams opened their 2011 season.  Mother Nature provided a perfect day for the 400 plus little leaguer’s as the temperature hovered near 70 degrees.  All 4 of the baseball diamonds, and the Tee-Ball diamond were “buzzing” with action and excitement as little leaguer’s proudly donned their respective uniforms.

In the Coach Pitch Minor’s (9&under division), Subway Sandwich Shop defeated Tupes of Saginaw 15-1.  Jack Kujawa paced Subway, going 2 for 3 at the plate, while pitching a very strong game on the mound.  Thomas Schultz and Casey Cornford contributed with some great play as well.

In Majors (12&under) action, Hennig, Woodbury, & Howard PC played 2 games on Saturday afternoon.  In the first game, Brendan Jackson homered early on as his team defeated Dick’s Sporting Goods 6-4.  In their 2nd game of the day, Hennig, Woodbury, & Howard PC fell to Crawford’s 7/11, despite a strong pitching performance from Noah “No-Mar” Marcoux.

The Minors (11&under division) would prove to be the most exciting game of the day.  Firehouse Carwash fought back from a 7-0 deficit to beat Tim’s Tony’s Restaurant 8-7.  Trailing 7-0 early on, Firehouse Carwash chipped away at the lead into the bottom half of the last inning.  Losing 7-5, Kenny Kujawa’s RBI pulled his team to within 1 run.  After Kujawa, it was Jamir Hayes-Woods' time to shine.  Hayes-Woods tied the game at 7 with an RBI single.  The stage was set for "Slugger" Hunter Vaughn, who drove in the game winning run on a “walk-off” base hit.  Seth Lacross, Spencer Redmond, Kujawa and Vaughn all teamed up to pitch a nice game defensively for Firehouse Carwash.

Another successful season is now under way for the Saginaw Township South Little League.  With the addition of a softball division, and the continued success of their baseball program, the S.T.S.L.L. seems to be “right on the BALL.”  One thing is for sure, with volunteers like Brandon Rose and Craig Marcoux, the league is in very good hands.