Kevin O'Neill, age 57, passed away early this past Sunday morning, surrounded by his family. Kevin was the loving father of two current Brandywine Little League players, Michael and Danny. The entire Brandywine Little League community extends its sympathy to the O'Neill family. Contributions can be made to the Fidelity College 529 Plan, Ameriprise Financial, 6150 State Road 70E, Suite 207, Bradenton, FL 34203. Please note "O'Neill". To send condolences visit: www.mccreryandharra.com.

 

If you failed to pick-up your cheesecake, please swing by the Brandywine Ballpark Concession stand as soon as possible to do so. The remaining cheesecakes (thankfully not too many) are squeezing our available freezer space. Thanks to all who sold and picked up their cheesecakes. Your efforts enabled the league to earn nearly $5,000 from this fund-raising effort, which will be used to continue to enhance our playing facilities. 

 

The newly formed Brandywine Big League team will begin play Tuesday, May 22 in the annual Snyder Invitational hosted by PA District 28. The tournament benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Eleven teams from PA, Delaware and Maryland will play in two pools, with finals on May 28 at West Chester University. Brandywine opens the tournament versus Caln (PA) on Tuesday at 6pm, at Caln AA. Friday evening, Brandywine takes West Side LL (West Chester, PA) at that league's East Bradford field in West Chester at 6pm. This Saturday, Brandywine will host a doubleheader at Dyer -- taking on the Philly Black Sox at 1pm and Cecil 5 (MD) at 3pm. Our final game (pending championship play) is Sunday at 7pm vs Kennett Knights at KAU Sr. field. Five guaranteed games in six days! Play ball! The four leading teams from two pools of play will square off on May 28 in runner up and final games to be played on the West Chester University baseball field at noon and 3pm.

 

JWF 

Brandywine Little League will sponsor a Big League team representing Northern Delaware this summer. Players from any league within District 2 are eligible to play. Big League is intended for players age 17 and 18, although 16 year old players are eligible. The Brandywine team will play teams representing leagues in PA Districts 28 and 29. Home games will be held at Dyer Field. At this time, we have scheduled 15 game regular season games and this schedule is posted on our web site. Additional games are planned versus a team from Maryland (dates for these games have not been set, but will be posted to the schedule). The Brandywine team will also play in a multi-league tournament over Memorial Day weekend in West Chester. Playoffs follow the regular season and the team automatically qualifies to play in the Delaware Big League All Star Tournament in July. If you are interested in playing Big League baseball this summer, please contact our player agent, Vikki McGarvey.  Player Registration Fee for the full season is $200. 

 

John Faulkner 

Believe me, I understand. It's a beautiful evening, your child is playing baseball, and you don't want to leave your dog home alone for two more hours after doing so all day. So, bring your dog to the park. But please, make sure your animal is leashed and under control. 

 

Tonight there was an ugly incident at Brandywine Ballpark when an unleashed dog that was being "run" by its owner attacked a dog near the BB2 Field. The good news is that the dog was not seriously harmed, but many kids and adults were quite upset. This particular unleashed dog's owner is not a Brandywine Little League parent. However, he is a New Castle County community resident who has been running his two dogs in the evenings at Brandywine Ballpark for well over a year...without incident to my knowledge. It is important to understand that in the off-season Brandywine Ballpark is required to be open to all residents during daylight hours. During the baseball season our Lease allows for more restrictive usage rules. As of this evening, this particular resident and his dogs are no longer welcome on our premises and we will enforce a leash rule at all times at both Brandywine Ballpark and Dyer Field. 

 

We want Brandywine Little League to be safe for our families...and for our families' best friends.

 

JWF 

 

 

Learning the fundamentals of baseball is really what Little League is all about. Our goal each and every season is to see kids at all levels progress. We typically see steady progress at all levels and parents (and coaches) are often amazed at the plays their kids are making by the end of the season compared to where they began in the spring. To help provide additional guidance for coaches and parents, Brandywine Little League has subscribed to an expanded on-line 24/7 Coaching Solution series that features an array of age appropriate coaching drills lead by Scott Bradley, the head coach of the Princeton Tigers and a former major leaguer. Coaches and parents are encouraged to take a look at this series, which is posted under our Training Center tab on the left of this home page. Once you get to the Training Center, you'll see seven different modules. You'll need to enter the password "brandywinell" and hit ENTER on the module you choose. This will launch the module and then you can scroll through the separate lessons. In addition to the video drills (each is about 90 seconds), there are written notes for each module that you can print and refer to when you are on the field with your team or child. We look forward to hearing what you think of this series. 

 

President

 

Player Development Director

 

Coaching Development Director 

 

 

Sunset Times

Last year's favorite Brandywine LL sweatshirts are back with practice shirts now available.  The address to mail the form and payment is on the order form.  Items can be ordered anytime throughout the season, and if anyone has any questions, please call Kelly Blewitt at 764-1777 or send an e-mail to blewittfamily@comcast.net

 

Please note that every team will be getting new playing shirts this year and may have different colors than last year, so if you want to match your playing shirt colors, please wait!

 

 

 

A quick turn on my soap box, if you don't mind. I must make an emphatic point that we are ALL volunteers when it comes to Brandywine Little League. That includes Board Members, Managers, Coaches, Team Moms, Umpires, Concession Stand Workers, Field Preppers, Trash Haulers, Practice Helpers, Scorekeepers, Pitch Counters, and FANS. This is because we ALL interact with the kids in our league. To conform to the Volunteer Guidelines of Little League baseball, we ask that ALL volunteers (if you are reading this, this means you) submit to a confidential Volunteer Background check, which must be conducted annually. The link to the Volunteer form can be found in the story above about Registration. The 2012 Volunteer Form can also be found in the Handouts section of this website. And every Registation packet will contain a blank Volunteer form. Please take a moment and fill it out and either turn it in at Registration or e-mail it to my attention or to the attention of our league Secretary, Elisa O'Day. I truly appreciate your cooperation!

 

John Faulkner

President

Ken Schlezes, Treasurer 

Do you have a question for the league? Call our hotline and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.