Riverside Bradford Baseball Board Meeting Minutes 

I. Call to Order 

Meeting held via Zoom on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 8:00PM. Called to order by Matt Souza, President, at 8:02PM. 

II. Roll Call 

In attendance: Matt Souza (President), PJ Panneton (VP Baseball Operations), Jared Duemling (Player Agent), Jennifer Duemling (Treasurer), Peter Stoehr (Secretary), Kyle Walker, Wayne Knight, Rocky Libucha, Michael Nutton, Randel  George, and Jason Lahaye.  

Absent: Seth Heisler, Pat Lavigne, Andy DiPietro (VP Administration), Jonathan Elwell, Bill McCarthy, and Steve  O’Connell.  

III. Approval of Minutes  

Minutes for meeting held on February 1, 2021 were distributed and reviewed by Board of Directors. There were no  objections to approving the minutes as distributed.  

Motion to accept made by Jason, seconded by PJ. Accepted unanimously.  

IV. Order of Business 

A. Treasurer’s Report 

The Treasurer’s Report was distributed and reviewed by the Board of Directors. There were no objections to  approving the financials as distributed. 

Motion to accept made by Jason, seconded by PJ. Accepted unanimously.  

B. Registration Update  

a. Divisions  

i. As of 3/2, we have 261 players registered: 

1. T-Ball / Instructional: 88 

2. A/AA: 43 

3. RB Senior: 10 

4. Major/Minor: 56 

5. 60/70: 51 

6. Buddy Ball: 13 

b. Realignment 

i. Looking at ideas due to low registration numbers 

1. Is travel an option? 

2. How many players can we move up?  

3. Should we combine teams for the 10–12-year-olds? PJ suggested identifying kids that can  

play up.  

4. Should we hold tryouts for RB Senior if we get enough players interested in participating?  

ii. We need to put our focus on T-Ball / Instructional because those kids are the future of the league. iii. Jared’s thoughts → if we have 4 teams in Major 70; 4 teams x 11 players, we should have draft  eligible kids. We need to give back and reinvest in the different leagues and help develop the kids  

currently on the cusp.  

iv. Randel’s inquired about our overall total objective and what we’re trying to accomplish.  

1. Are we putting out the best product? 

2. Do we want to develop our players? 

3. Are we focused on giving kids an outlet in a COVID world and just going through the  

motions?  

4. Is this going to be a competitive league?  

5. Should we take away the divisions and create a well-balanced league for the Spring?  

6. What about building an Elite / Travel team?  

v. Matt has been scoping out other towns to join forces with and combine leagues if the numbers  continue to lag. 

vi. Evals were held and didn’t product great results. We have approximately 26 kids.  

c. Senior League Contact 

i. Randel will be our Senior League POC. 

d. SafeSport / Background Checks 

i. SafeSport is not a requirement but a guideline / recommendation. CORI is mandatory for all  coaches / volunteers.  

e. Coaches  

i. Jared reported we’re looking good across the board overall and he suspects we have some  stragglers lagging behind that will surface in the coming weeks to help out.  

1. T-Ball: 14 coaches signed up (head/asst head) 

2. A/AA: 9 coaches signed up (head/asst head) 

3. Major 60/70: 13 coaches signed up (head/asst head) 

4. Major/Minor: 10 coaches singed up (head/asst head) 

C. Equipment Committee  

a. No major update since last meeting. The committee purchased balls, scorebooks, pitch counters, etc and  put everything into storage.  

D. Uniforms 

a. No major update since last meeting.  

E. Sponsorship Updates 

a. We received checks form Ferrick Brothers Moving Co ($525), Renaissance City Church, Chase Electric,  Costello Insurance ($500), Climate Zone ($1,500), Revise Energy ($1,000) 

b. Other sponsors we’ve landed / engaged: SERVPRO of Haverhill/Newburyport, Beauty Bar by Nikol,  Haverhill Family Eye Care, Sullivan Insurance, Hidden Pig, Haverhill House of Pizza, Gleason Law Offices,  Azul, One Stop Market 

c. Banners ($525) – Jason recommended Harvey Sign for a quote.  

i. Ferrick Brothers Moving Co 

ii. Freedom Pest Control 

iii. Pentucket Bank 

iv. Pistone Container Services 

v. Orthopedics Northeast 

vi. Costello Insurance 

vii. Climate Zone 

viii. Revise Energy 

ix. Trinity (are they confirmed?) 

x. Commonwealth Collective (PJ picking up a check) 

F. Photos / Plaques 

a. We’re still under contract with our current vendor (CLIX Portrait Studio) due to COVID; we have 1 more year  before we can send out a RFP.  

b. We currently receive a % of all sales that is reinvested in the organization. 

c. The date for this season’s photos is TBD.  

G. Opening Day 

a. Proposed Sunday, April 25th (Sunday at the conclusion of MA Spring Recess) to come down to the stadium,  pick-up your uniform, and meet your coach. 

H. Proposed Fields 

a. Divisions and potential fields 

i. Matt spoke with Ben Delaware with the City of Haverhill and we need a final registration number to  determine how many fields we will need.  

I. Coaches Manual Committee 

a. Established a group of volunteers (Jason, Matt, Bill, and Rocky) to red line the current manual, make  revisions, and send it to the board for review and approval.  

J. Insurance Charter 

a. All set with this for now. We will update the T&Cs once we have the final numbers for the season.  

K. Cooperstown Update 

a. March Madness Fundraiser is $10 to enter.  

b. A golf tourney is in the works for Friday, June 18th.

L. Open Floor 

a. Need to send an email to the parents regarding COVID protocols; Jared will draft and send out. b. A suggestion was made to have an open registration at the RB fields for one last push to increase our  numbers; Jared is going to think about it. Also, there was a suggestion to have some RBB registration signs  created and put around the City, similar to what the softball program did. Do we have any in storage or  would we need to spend the money to make new ones? Rocky is going to check with the softball org and  find out where they purchased theirs. He’ll update Jared on the status; Mike and Kyle have volunteered to  put them up if we get them.  

c. We need to sign up for the MVC Small Diamond League in Methuen; Matt will take care of this. d. We’ve received $429 in new donations for Buddy Ball in the month of February; $861 has been raised to  date. 

V. Closing 

Next meeting to take place on Monday, March 15th at 8:00PM via Zoom. Motion to Adjourn made by Mike Nutton at  9:12PM. Seconded by PJ Panneton. Accepted unanimously. 

Submitted, Peter Stoehr, Secretary