Cloverdale Raising Young Guns

Players pitch in

The Cloverdale Minor Softball Association is taking serious steps towards the development of young pitchers.

Newly elected president Jim Ullock called upon several Rossini's teammates and a few others including Nick Underhill of the Vancouver Grey Sox to help conduct 10 training sessions for young pitchers.

More than twenty youngsters recieved instruction from Ullock and others during the Fall '07 portion.

Graduating students were awarded plaques recognizing their achievements. "A lot of them showed significant improvement" said Ullock, who was grateful for a lot of help from fellow players.

"Guy Linden in particular was a workhorse" said Ullock, "he showed up nine of ten nights - he caught a ton of pitches!".

Ullock and the Cloverdale Association are already looking ahead to 2008.

Beginning again in January, Cloverdale will hold indoor practices on Thursday nights where players will have a chance to hone both their pitching and hitting skills.

Last year the organization was comprised of 42 teams and 494 players. Ullock is hopeful that this figure could jump as high as 600 due to an upcoming aggresive flyer program and local area advertising campaign.