Raptor Rec 2012 Info!

Happy New Year everyone!! We are excited for the 2012 Rec softball season. Look for Registration to open in February with clinics starting in March. We will again be playing with Cottage Grove - but with a new twist - What's new?? The Minors league (grades 6, 7, 8) will include not only Raptor and Cottage Grove teams but also Woodbury. See the press release for more information. We intend to add Woodbury teams to younger leagues in future years if everything works well.  Our first and foremost goal is to provide East Ridge girls with the best possible softball experience - and for the girls to have FUN!!  If you have any questions or want to get involved with Raptor Rec Softball - just contact our Rec Director Bruce Bialka at bbialka@comcast.net

Press release regarding 2012 Rec softball

WAA, CGAA AND ERAA SOFTBALL ASSOCIATIONS ANNOUNCE 2012 IN-HOUSE LEAGUE COMBINED LEAGUES

COTTAGE GROVE AND WOODBURY, Minn. (January 2, 2012) – Woodbury, Cottage Grove and East Ridge Athletic Associations today announced that their two most senior in-house softball leagues, consisting of girls in grades 6-8 and 9–12 would play in a combined league for the 2012 season.  Each organization will continue to form teams under the banner of their respective affiliations but league and playoff games will be mixed between all associations. The two combined upper level leagues may have teams from Cottage Grove, Woodbury, East Ridge, St. Paul Park, Newport and Oakdale. 

The combination is in response to the Woodbury fields’ policy, which spurred discussions between the associations to further cooperate and improve opportunities and experiences for girls.  “We are excited about bringing traditional rivalries into our in-house programs which we believe will benefit all the associations”, stated Jill Miller, WAA Softball Director.  “This is a good first step”, noted Justin Voerster, CGAA Softball Director, “and making changes to align fundamental program aspects such as season duration and league age brackets opens the door for additional combinations for the younger ages in the future.”   Jeff Bria, ERAA Softball Director, added “The level of cooperation and sharing of ideas in the best interests of all the girls has been phenomenal.  East Ridge rec softball has played in the Cottage Grove in-house league since inception, so we are looking forward to adding WAA to the mix.”

For the 2012 season, the younger leagues (girls in grade 5 and younger) will play as in 2011 – with WAA being separate from the CGAA/ERAA in-house league.  “If things go smoothly we will look to expand the combination to younger leagues in the future”, said Voerster, “For now though we will work out the kinks and ensure that we continue to offer quality programs for the girls.’

The associations plan to open registration for 2012 In-house softball in February.  Please contact your respective athletic association with any questions.

Congrats to 2011 Pitchball Champions - ER Pitchball Black!

From Head Coach Gary Maki:  "We followed up our 2nd place regular season finish with a 4-0 run in the playoffs to bring home the victory for ERAA!  We had a pretty strong Sunday performance with a 17-2 win and a 25-7 win the championship game.  Finished the year 12-3, and the girls made some great new friends and had a blast."

Coach Bremseth's 10U Team Shows What Raptor Spirit Is All About

On Sunday, June 6, Mark Bremseth's 10U softball team became Co-Champions of the Tricounty Tournament. The girls "played their hearts out with phenomenal pitching, stellar fielding, timely hitting and flawless base running" - resulting in a co-championship with Eagan. 

Coach Bremseth recapped, "...both teams struggled to stand upright in the dark and we decided the Co-Champ solution was best. At about 9:00 that night, both teams agreed that 'enough is enough' and decided to end it with Eagan getting the #1 seed to State (as they were the higher seed coming in). ER Gold received #2 but declared the tournament a draw between the two teams and naming them Co-Champions.  New medals will be made and distributed at State."

 

"These young ladies have come a long way since struggling to eek out a couple of wins against a week team in our first game and now we look forward to state as the #2 seed in the highest 10U bracket.  To coin a phrase, 'these girls ROCK'! "

Get Ready for Fall Softball!

Fall Ball is just around the corner!   
We need both players and volunteer coaches! Cost per player is estimated to be about $75.00 per player. Registration will be available on our website. If you are interested in coaching, please contact Art Plautz.

View Tri-County info

Clinics are available! See details and sign-up forms.

Tryouts for the 2012 Softball Season will be October 1-2, 2011 at ERHS Fields. Watch for more details on our website.

Congratulations Raptors!
Three East Ridge softball teams qualified for Nationals. 10U Gold - Coach Mark Bremseth, 12U Gold - Coach Todd Youngstrom and 14U - Coach Bob Falk. Outstanding results for our 2nd full year and only having 6 teams!! These same three teams were also first place tournament winners!
 

 View game highlights

View game highlights

View game highlights 

Good Luck to all Raptor Teams in upcoming games and tournaments. Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July!

Thanks to all the Raptor teams that helped make the Sunday Social Skills event a success!

Do you have photos of your favorite team you'd like to share? Put them in your coach's Drop Box and we'll post to the website, Facebook and online newsletter. 

Raptor Rec Classic T-Shirts

We will have a tent set up early Saturday to pick up Raptor Rec Classic TShirts previously ordered.  We will have a limited supply of extra shirts.  Cost is $15/shirt due on pickup.

New Woodbury Fields Policy enacted by City Council

On Wed, June 8th, the Woodbury City Council passed a resolution changing their approach to permitting fields for in-house sports programs beginning in 2012.  The City Council of Woodbury does not support having in-house sports (those that use outdoor fields) that follow a school draw.  A series of meetings will be held with the respective associations in July to explain the new directive.  The criteria for granting this exclusion and the City Council directive is attached.  As we understand the policy - only one association will be granted Level III priority. 

How does this potentially affect ERAA?  If we are not granted Level III status, then we will fall under a lower Priority Level and will have to pay for field use and will have use of fields not claimed by the Level III program.   If you value what we have created and believe this policy is unfair to those in the East Ridge community please voice your concerns to your city council member:  http://www.ci.woodbury.mn.us/government/mayor-a-city-council.  Additionally, the Cottage Grove Parks and Recreation Department is considering a mirror-image policy as well.  To contact them go to http://www.cottage-grove.org/parks.htm

We welcome your comments and questions and look forward to working with you to continue to provide a place for our girls to play recreational softball with ERAA.

To reiterate our current state of ERAA Raptor Rec Softball:

We play cooperatively in a league with CGAA

We have not had an issue with scarcity of softball fields – in our two seasons of play the City of Woodbury has allocated the Bailey 3 and 4 fields to ERAA Raptor Rec – with remaining fields in Cottage Grove. 

We have doubled in size and now have over 100 families in the Rec Softball program alone.

Feel free to contact ERAA Raptor Rec Softball Director Bruce Bialka at bbialka@comcast.net with comments and questions.  Go Raptors!!