CALL holds organizational meeting

By TJ MAXWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Copperas Cove youth baseball players may soon have a new home. A grassroots effort to bring Little League Baseballto Copperas Cove is underway, spearheaded by longtime California baseball man Chuck Taylor. Taylor and his newly formed board of directors have filed for their charter with Little League International and are currently waiting on its arrival as they prepare to address the city council on the matter. The new Cove American Little League (CALL) Baseball would essentially take over for the youth league currently ran by the City of Copperas Cove’s Parks and Recreation Department. The effort is still in the infancy stages as approval from the council to use their facilities is imperative to creating the team. CALL has already been granted permission to form the League in the Cove and Kempner areas but discussions to expand further will have to wait until the conclusion of the Little League World Series in August. Among the things to be discussed at city council is use and maintenance of the city park facilities. CALL plans to add their item to the city council agenda within the next month. Taylor knows starting a new league will be a challenge, but is confident they have the people in place to be successful. “The first year in a league is tough,” he said. “We are going to stumble and make mistakes, but we have to be smart enough to fix them. We have to be ready and have all of our ducks in a row to start registration in early June.” The group began their fundraising efforts this past weekend where they raised $651 dollars during the Hanks Mufflers annual three-day customer appreciation sale. Taylor wants to take this effort slow and be smart so it doesn’t ultimately fail. They may just start with the Little League and add softball and the older leagues as the league gains momentum. “I’ve seen leagues fail because they’ve bit off too much,” he said. “I would love to see us add a Junior and Senior League and Bobby Sox softball, but we have so much we’re biting off. I’ve been told that, if the city doesn’t have a league, we may have 25 or 30 teams and that would take every field we have.” The board members elected in the inaugural meeting are Chuck Taylor (president), David Morris (vice president), Annette Donker (secretary/treasurer), Eddie Carmese (player agent), James Pierce (safety officer) and Travis Martin (publishing/fundraiser leader). Kevin Myers and Brock Janneberg were voted to the board Wednesday’s meeting. Proposed registration fees would be $65 for first child and $35 for each sibling thereafter and would include uniforms, shirts, jerseys, hats and photos. CALL would be in Little League’s District 9 with Crawford, Gatesville, China Spring, Robinson, Lorena, Hewitt Midway, Waco Southern, Lacy-Lakeview, La Vega, Waco Eastern Little League, Lake Air Little League, West LL and Central Texas (Killeen) LL.