Join Us for Softball Clinics and the Rec All-Star Game!

Two Clinics on June 5th:

• Pitchball League Hitting Clinic at Bailey #3, 6:30 pm
  
• The next Social Skills clinic will be at ERHS fields. Practice starts at 6PM, food will be served at 7PM. This is a free clinic open to all East Ridge competitive softball teams.

Get ready for the Rec All-Star Game
on Saturday, June 18th!  
In conjunction with Strawberry Fest in Cottage Grove there will be a ERAA/CGAA Rec All-Star game for Pitchball, PeeWee and Minors teams at Grey Cloud elementary.  Teams will be selecting their All-Stars in the near future and we want teammates to come out and cheer them on!!  There will be a carnival on the Grey Cloud grounds so the whole family can come out for a day of fun!

Rename Varsity Field

Be sure to submit your vote to give Varsity Field a new name. The poll will be open for one more week.

Training Tidbit: Pitching

Sunday Social Skills for Competitive Softball Players

As part of our player development program, Eric Heflin, Player and Coach Development Director, and our Competitive team coaches planned 3 Sunday evening events centered around a 1 hour practice session followed up by a Bar-B-Q. The dates are May 15th, June 5th and June 19th. 

We had our first Sunday Social this past Sunday and over 50 girls came to get a hitting lesson and then it was time for a picnic, hence our name Sunday Social Skills. Practice started at 6pm and the food was served at 7pm. We served up 80 hot dogs in all and our Super Raptor Grill Master, Jeff Bria, did a fantastic job.  Thanks to Eric Heflin, Kalli Heflin, Erica Bohlke and Kelsy Bria for their hitting expertise and to Art Plautz for the organization and for bringing the food.  

Future practices will again be guided by Eric Heflin and will focus on the fundamental skills of throwing, catching and hitting. These practice sessions are open to all ERAA competitive softball players and families. It's a great opportunity to get a little extra practice in and then have some food and fun!  Remember the next two dates are Sunday, June 5th and Sunday, June 19th.

Private hitting clinics are also available by Eric Heflin. Get details. 



Don't forget to vote on a new name for Varsity Field!
So far, the two popular names are Field of Prey and The Cage. The poll is still open, cast a vote for your favorite name!

Training Tidbits: Catching

Social Savvy

QR Codes – Get Information Quickly Using Your Smart Phone

A QR Code (Quick Response Code) is a two-dimensional code that can be read by a QR Code reader from a camera phone (smart phone).  The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data. You have probably seen these in advertisements. Some retailers offer exclusive deals with QR codes, so be sure to scan them if you see them!

To scan QR codes, your mobile device must have a QR code reader installed. A popular FREE QR code reader can be downloaded from: www.Scanlife.com

Try it yourself – scan this QR code to add the Social Skills training event to your calendar on your smart phone.

A Standing Ovation for the ERAA Recreational Softball Coaches

The ERAA Raptor Recreational softball program has more than doubled in size this spring!!  We are very happy with the growth in our program and even happier with all of the Head Coaches and Assistants that have stepped up to bring the game of softball to our girls.  We have listed all those that are head or assistant coaches for one of the Raptor Rec teams.

Be sure to say thank you to your head coach and assistants for all the extra work they do for your daughters.  Also, a special thanks to Bruce Bialka, Director of Raptor Rec.  Bruce has done a great job creating and organizing Raptor Rec into the successful program that it is.  We wish all of you a great spring and summer of Raptor Softball.

Tee-Ball Head Coaches:  Susan Mestery, Shawn Shanley
Tee-Ball Assistants:  Bill Sukup, Brett Stevens, Christine Barry

Pitch Ball Head Coaches:  Dave Flynn, Joe Slavin, Gary Maki
Pitch Ball Assistants:  Tim McGown, Mike Lenarz, Christopher Radecki, Brady Harrison, Jesse Kaul,

Pee Wee Head Coaches:  Mike Corcoran, Andy Christenson, Scott Shaver
Pee Wee Assistants:  Daren Stegeman, Jeff Knupp, Jim McDonnell, Jodi Lippert

Minors Head Coaches:  Mandy Durose, Tom Anderson
Minors Assistants:  Paul McGuire, Arlen Marcus, Dave Olsen

Congratulations to Scott Shaver's team for winning an ice cream party. 
They sold 22 Twins tickets! Unfortunately, we didn't meet our fundraising goal but we do appreciate the support that everyone provided for this event.

We Need Your Vote on the New Varsity Field Name

Thank you for submitting your ideas for renaming Varsity Field. The Board has selected a final list from your suggestions. Please take a minute to cast a vote for your favorite name. 

Training Tidbit: Base Running

  
Social Savvy

Twitter is a live information network where users share short clips of information called tweets. A tweet can be up to 140 characters long, and can include links to other sources of information, such as a website or video. Tweets are like a headline – succinctly announcing an event, or idea.  It’s a great tool for those that dislike reading lengthy email! Use Tweets to capture attention, and use links to guide readers to more detailed information. Watch a video to see how Twitter works, or read more about Twitter basics. 

TIP:

Using hashtags in your Tweets can help people find information about a specific topic. A hashtag is a symbol (#) that is inserted as a prefix to a word to identify a topic. 

Readers on Twitter can click a hashtag to see any other current tweets with the same hashtag, making it an easy way to categorize tweets according to topic or community. Readers can also use Twitter’s search tool to search for messages with a particular hashtag. To learn more about hashtags, visit the Twitter Help Center. To see hashtags in action, try performing a search for the hashtag #softball. And if you’re new to Twitter or thinking about joining, don’t forget to follow @ERAASoftball.

A Round of Applause for ERAA Competitive Softball Coaches

The ERAA Softball season officially started this last week with the 12U Competitive teams playing their first games on Monday!!  All other teams will begin their games in the very near future.  We would like to recognize the coaches and assistant coaches who are working hard to create a great softball experience for your daughter.  A lot of work and preparation goes into coaching a softball team.  The coaches have spent time in the off-season at coaches clinics, helping with ERAA softball clinics, and working to organize the team and their assistants.  

Please let your coaches know that you appreciate their efforts and the extra time that they volunteer to ERAA Fastpitch Softball.  Special thanks to Art Plautz, Competitive Softball Director.  Art has done a great job organizing the teams and coaches.  Best wishes to all of you for a successful and fun summer full of softball.

Not pictured:
Brian Nerison, Greg Mallak, Kevin Mell, Mike Groch, Jill Whistler, Mark Bremseth, Mike Conklin, Jim Lemire, Mark Whitman

It was great seeing everyone at the ERAA Youth Softball Night!

Be sure to check out all the photos! 

2012 Competitive Softball Try Outs will be October 1-2, 2011. Location will be announced.

Training Tidbit: Infield and Outfield

Twins Tickets are still available for purchase until May 9!


Photos of all the Raptor teams are needed for the web site. Please send any you'd like to share!

Hey Raptors, show off your softball expertise and win a Gordman's gift certificate! 

Watch for Softball Challenge Questions on the Raptor Facebook page. For each question you answer, your name will be entered into a drawing for a Gordman's gift certificate. Rules: Limited to ERAA Raptor softball players only. One drawing entry per player for each question. Winners will be announced near the end of the season.