February 9, 2023 SSSA Meeting Minutes

The meeting, held at Shriners, was called to order at 12:50pm by President Ken Shepard.  Attending Board members included: VP Frank Lyons, Treasurer Mike Mahan, Secretary Ron Giovannucci, George Wacaser, Bob D’Angelo, Luis Negrete and Gary Goldberg.  Chuck Cason was absent.  

 

Steve Arsenault attended the meeting representing SOCO Club Sport, an adult sport and social club.  He requested use of the storage shed at 17^thStreet and the storage container at Fruitville to store his screens for his adult softball programs.  In lieu of having access to the shed and container he will provide new screens and repair old ones.  The Board approved this request. 

 

The last meeting minutes were accepted.    The Venice/Englewood/Sarasota tournament scheduled for March 4 is now changed to Sarasota vs Venice in a doubleheader starting at 9:00am. Englewood will not be participating.

 

Steve Rauh and Jon Loschin  of Sarasota Parks & Recreation also attended the meeting.  The discussion centered around canceling games due to inclement weather, etc.  The main concern in canceling games due to inclement weather  is safety.  The discussion concluded with an understanding that better coordination/communication is needed in scheduling changes. Steve indicated he would like to attend our board meetings on a quarterly basis.

 

Mike presented his financial report.  He listed future expenditures which included but not limited to    championship shirts and the Summer and Fall manager’s dinner.  He stated there are enough game balls on hand for the rest of the Winter  and Summer Season moving forward to the 2023 season.    The financial Report was unanimously accepted.  Managers are encouraged to call up new players and make them feel welcomed to SSSA.  Pizza days  are March 6 &  7.  

 

Frank and Gary will work on the manager’s dinner  scheduled for April 2.

 

For the Summer season, the “B” league will adopt the rule of a dead ball strike when a batted ball hits the pitcher’s protective screen.

 

 Hats will no longer be provided.

 

Nominations for the SSSA Board of Directors will be accepted by February 13.  The elections will be March 13 & 14.  Online voting is February 20 – March 8.

 

The Amish games are scheduled for February 22and “A” league games will be moved to Fruitville park.  Jay Wolfinger was suspended immediately and indefinitely pending the results of an investigation of an incident he was involved in recently.  

 

Tom Dwyer was suspended for one year because he would not play another position besides first base.  An “A” league manager could be gaining an advantage by holding himself  out of the second game so he can use only 11 players.   No action taken.  Summer league registration is March 1.

 

Future plans are for the Friday “B” league to move to Wednesday and have only five teams.  The purpose of this future move is for consistency.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:44pm.  The next meeting will be held on March 8 at 1:00pm at Shriners.