Moraga Baseball Association-PONY Baseball

NEWS AND NOTES

Congratulations to the Moraga Cougars in clinching their three peat with a championship win over the Pleasant Hill Hawks in the 2010 Citrus Heights Memorial Day Pony Tournament.

Front Row (l to r) - Matthew Tuan; Kevin Lehman; Scott Smoot; Scott Chen; Jack Stephens. Back Row (l to r) - Coach Dave Singh; Philip Rei; Kurt Vergara; David Ortega; Jack O'Donnell; Hunter Rosenbaum; Scott Singh; Troy Westernoff; Coach Al Smoot

Moraga Baseball Association Scores Big with Used Equipment Drive
THANK YOU MBA AND MBA FAMILIES!!!!

On Saturday, March 6, Scott and I ended a six-week long Used Baseball Equipment Drive at the MBA Opening Day Ceremony. MBA and MBA family donations resulted in the collection of over 1500 individual items worth over $30,000 of used baseball equipment, if new.

We were amazed at how many people offered to help. It really was a team effort. We could not have counted, cleaned and boxed up all the stuff without the help from my friend and teammate Ryan Hooper and Scott’s sister’s Annie and Olivia Hillhouse.

We are especially grateful to MBA, Campo Baseball, LMYA and the families in Moraga and Lafayette for all their donations. Special thanks go to Mrs. Schoenwald, MBA Secretary/Registrar for her help with editing and getting the word out through newsletters; Mr. Buckley, MBA President and Mr. Westphal, MBA’s President-elect, for coordinating and making accessible MBA’s uniform, field and equipment manager’s Mr. Kronenberg, Johnston and Grausz. They gave us a ton of no longer needed equipment and bases. Campo’s freshman baseball coach, Mr. McNulty, put us in contact with Mr. Lesserman from LMYA who contributed over 400 baseballs, some batting tees and home plates. Everyone went out of their way to make this successful.

The East Bay was in immediate need of bases and field equipment. We quickly delivered the bases and field equipment to “Used Baseball Equipment for Inner City Kids,” and they have already been distributed to Oakland High, Oakland Tech, College Prep and Skyline High School. Last weekend we delivered the remaining equipment which included over 100 bats, 600 baseballs, assorted pants, belts, cleats, catcher’s equipment, helmets, tee’s and bat bags, to name a few.

Thanks for being apart of this adventure.
Ryan Hoffman and Scott Hillhouse
[original with photographs]

Opening Day and Raffle

Opening Day is this Saturday, March 6, 2010, from 8:00-9:30 a.m., at the Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School Gym. Please join us at 8:00 a.m. to enjoy complimentary coffee, hot cocoa, bagels and donuts. Apparel orders may be picked up at that time.

Please support the Opening Day Raffle – this is MBA’s largest fundraiser! Raffle tickets are still available and can be purchased form Amy Kikugawa or at the Raffle Table at JM on Opening Day. Raffle prizes include:

•    Tickets to see the SF Giants and the Oakland A’s
•    Batting lessons with Coach Milt Panagotacos
•    One week Campolindo summer football camp
•    Batboy for a Cal baseball game and tickets for family
•    Practice with the Campolindo baseball team with 11 of your friends
•    8x10 Sports Action Collage of 2010 Season from by Lamorinda Linda
•    $250 of paint donated by Marks Paint Mart
•    A one week Randy Bennett Basketball Camp for the week of June 28-July 2

Increase your odds and buy lots of tickets! We know times are tough, and anything you can give to the program is much appreciated.

Remember that the team with the highest raffle ticket sales will win a two-hour hitting and pitching session with Clint Hoover, Joe Zuber and Wayne Franklin. The top teams at this time are:

Mustang White Sox - $500
Pinto Cubs - $475
Mustang Mariners - $450
Pony Cougars - $400

RAINY DAY INFO

As a reminder, the MBA home page is to the place to check to see if the fields are open
at Joaquin Moraga and Camino Pablo Schools.
Just in case you don't have it,
the Moraga School District Rainy Day Hotline is 925-377-4110.

We check the MSD Rainy Day Hotline every day and post whether the fields are open or closed on the MBA home page. We'll also note here whether practices can be held on the blacktop if the fields are otherwise closed. Under no circumstances are MBA coaches or parents to hold practices on the fields or blacktops if they have been closed by MSD. Failure to abide by this policy will result in monetary fines to MBA and result in the revocation of the ability to use MSD fields which will not only affect those who violated the policy but also those who did not.