Cerritos Little League Baseball hopes to bounce back

By Loren Kopff

If it seems as if the Cerritos Little League Baseball organization is brand new, there’s a good reason to believe that. However, the only things that will look different when the season begins later this month will be a new board of directors, a new attitude and of course, new players to mix in with the old ones.
Despite the Cerritos Little League going through some disarray which ended with the defection of the previous board a few months ago, a new board was put together in January when former parents received an e-mail that the league was being terminated due to a low turnout, said President Jason Tani.
“This year was the first year that there was a little bit of disarray in the league,” Tani said. “The former president and the former board of directors basically got discouraged with the turnout of the kids. It’s unacceptable to cancel a season. It’s unacceptable to terminate a league that has been here three, four, five decades.
“We are starting with a core group of parents,” Tani added. “These are parents who may have received communication that [the previous seasons] have been cancelled or that the league has been terminated. The parents who came back are truly the parents who have, to a certain point, a commitment or loyalty to the league.”
Lately, the Cerritos Little League has seen a drop off in the number of players but despite that, Tani, who played little league baseball in Cerritos in 1980, says there has always been a Cerritos Little League. But he added that he has noticed less involvement in the past 15-20 years, not just in Cerritos, but also across the country.
“Specifically in the city of Cerritos, we are incredibly fortunate because we have an incredible city that runs many different types of recreational leagues,” Tani said. “Cerritos, at this time, literally has three baseball leagues-The City of Cerritos recreational league, Frontier Youth Baseball League and now the Cerritos Little League. When you put all of those together, there are definitely enough platforms for kids to come out to have a good time, play and make friendships.”
With two weeks to go before the opening day ceremonies and the first games, between 100-125 youngsters ranging from four to 14 years old have signed up for this upcoming season. Last season, there were approximately 200 players spread out over five age divisions: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-12 and 13-14. Tani said he believes this season will be stronger in the younger divisions. He also stated that at least one team will represent each of the age divisions.
“It’s absolutely a low starting point but I guess to me, one child was a starting point,” Tani said. “Anything above one, to me, is advancement. It’s definitely a low turnout number but ultimately, what we have to remember, is we want to be able to provide an incredible experience whether it’s one or 60 or 90 or 2,000.”
Tani said that since January, so many parents have become more involved. There were five consecutive Saturday’s of registration at Cerritos Park East and tryouts will take place on Saturday at Joe Gonsalves Park. Then three weeks later, former Seattle Mariners Rickey Cradle will headline the opening day festivities as he will throw out the first pitch. Cradle was a former Cerritos Little League player and attended Cerritos High School. Last season, he was an assistant for the Dons. Cradle was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth round of the 1991 draft.
Also attending the opening day ceremonies will be first-year Cerritos High baseball head coach Chris Aquino, who played at Long Beach State University for four years and Assembly member Tony Mendoza. The ceremony begins at 11:00 a.m. at Gonsalves Park and lasts approximately 90 minutes. The first games will commence that afternoon.
“For me, coming back this year and kind of taking a leadership role in the league and having several leagues is nothing new,” Tani said. “We have enough kids here by all means to have successful leagues.”