Tim Hitchings

Spring is a time for the start of the baseball season. As an avid fan of the sport I look forward to watching my favorite teams the Yankees and the Red Sox. Yes that’s correct, I follow both teams. I grew up in Massachusetts during the years of the great Carl Yastrzemski. And my son is a die-hard Yankees fan having grown up in the days of Derek Jeter. I enjoy rooting for both teams and the game of baseball in general. T.J. really only roots only for the Yankees but I haven’t disowned him for it. One of the highlights of the start of the baseball season for me is the local Cranbury Plainsboro Little League Friday Night Lights. This year for three consecutive Fridays (May 2nd, May 9th, & May 16) the Little League baseball and softball teams play under the lights at Plainsboro Park at 7 PM. This is a great night of community and fun with the kids and their games as the center of attention. The highlight for me will be the Friday the 16th game when the Little League baseball Majors Yankees take on the Phillies. The Phillies is coached by my son’s former coaches Ray Cella and Jim Caracappa. The team is sponsored by Peter Zanghi who is well known as the person responsible for the start of Little League baseball in our area. The three of them have been generously donating their time for more years than I’ve had the pleasure of living in Plainsboro. And every year I look forward to an email from Coach Ray inviting my son T.J. who is now 17 to come to the event and help coach the team for the evening. Ray invites his former players to take over his team for the night. I know I certainly look on in delight as these giant boys who used to play for Ray and Jim tower in height over the current little league team and often over Ray and Jim. It’s a fun night for me to catch up on how Mr. ‘Z’, Ray and Jims’ current team is doing and what the players will do in district all-stars. I run into old friends like Bill and Euna Brossman and we trade stories on what our son’s are up to today and reminisce on the good ‘old’ days of Little League with Ray, Jim, and Mr. ‘Z’. Hopefully we’ll have three beautiful nights of weather in the coming Friday’s. I hope everyone in the community will stop by. Say hello if you see me. I think I’ve still got an old CPLL hat from my coaching days somewhere. I’ll be around the backstop cheering on all the boys and girls to make the play, hit the ball, and run to the next base. Springtime is baseball.   Published here:  http://www.wwpinfo.com/index.php/component/us1more/?Itemid=6&key=5-2-14hitchings