BASEBALL - Open day pushes little league closer to big league

For a while there Miguel Abascal must have thought he was the only person remotely interested in baseball in Northland.
You can hardly blame him for wondering, because at one stage the Whangarei pastor was president, secretary and treasurer of the fledgling Northland Little League Baseball organisation, while also operating as the only coach in town as well.
But it only took one open day for things to change dramatically.
Abascal had more than 100 children turn up for a baseball open day at Kensington Park in Whangarei this week.
Now he has three clubs, six teams, a chairman, a secretary, several coaches and more players than he knows what to do with.
Just to be clear, he wouldn't mind finding a treasurer still.
"We are getting off to a fine start. We had about 100 people sign up," Abascal said.
"It is a new sport but in some ways it is not a new sport because it is very similar to softball which many people here are familiar with.
"Last year we only had one club, but now we have three in Whangarei, Northern, Southern and Eastern, we have coaches for all three and kids lining up to play," Abascal said.
"I think one of the biggest accomplishments is seeing how many parents just put their hands up to jump in though. It was natural, fresh and just good to see happen," he said.
After recruiting enough players for three different grades, under-eight T-ball, under-10 "coach-pitch" and under-13, Abascal said there would now be weekly Monday afternoon games at Kensington Park, with plans to extend the league if need be.
Abascal is already working with six different primary schools trying to establish an inter-school competition and is constantly fundraising to try to secure uniforms and playing equipment.