| Bat girl Kayla Maynes |
Baseball, the one sport in Carbon County that involves more people than any other sport, is underway locally with CEU and Carbon High already well into their school schedules and local little leagues planning opening day games at the respective fields of the communities involved for early May.
CEU, under second year coach Scott Madsen, has been playing for almost two months now, what with preseason and league games almost at a completion.
Carbon High is still battling for a spot in state tournament action as Coach Troy Moynier’s team had a slow start but playing very well in recent games.
Local little league teams are playing in the national Cal Ripken organization for the first time after 56 years of involvement in the WBBA program.
Leagues playing this year are the same as for the past several years, Carbon, Helper, Wellington, Sunnyside and Green River. Regular league schedules will run until late June after which all-star tournament action commences.
Sports news of local interest: Carbon High’s Morgan Warburton received All-American honorable mention after leading the University of Utah Lady Utes to a highly successful season despite a late season downfall. She will be back with the Lady Utes next season as a senior�Bryan Zollinger, the former CEU basketball coach, led his present team to a third place finish in the national junior college tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas this year. The Utah High School Activities Association has scheduled a reception on Tuesday, May 6 from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m. honoring the retirement of Evan Excel, as executive director of the association. The event will take place at the association offices in Midvale. Excell, a former East Carbon and Carbon High basketball coach, has been involved in high school sports for 42 years. Eric Madsen, a brother of Scott Madsen and former CEU diamond coach, is the assistant baseball coach at Utah Valley State College at Orem and slated to become the head coach next season when the school becomes Utah Valley University.
The deaths of Dick Ricci and Max Pessetto in the last while are an indication that Father Time is taking a toll of the players comprising the Helper American Legion teams in the glory days of diamond action in the early 1940’s. Helper teams won the state championship in 1940, 1941, finished second in 1942 and reclaimed the state title again in 1943. Ricci was named the outstanding player of the 1941 tournament and Pessetto of the 1943 meet. Those championship teams competed in regional Legion tournaments at Phoenix, AZ, Stockton, CA and Denver,. CO. Team manager was Ricci’s brother-in-law, the late George Pizza, former math teacher and principal of the Helper Junior High School. Guido Rachiele, a catcher on two of those teams, vows to out live us.