Ashland LL opens season, dedicates fieldhouse
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - An Ashland Dodgers player hits the ball during their season opener Saturday.
ASHLAND – The Little League season has begun in Ashland.
Opening Day Ceremonies were held Saturday afternoon in the borough, beginning with a parade on Centre Street.
The parade formed at Centre and Hoffman before making its way up Centre to the Little League field, Toewe/Rebuck Field, at Eureka Park.
Led by Ashland Police and flanked by Ashland Fire, Ashland’s Little Leaguers, in uniform, paraded with their parents and coaches.
At the field, the teams lined up along the baselines for opening ceremonies.
The league’s past two champions — the Athletics in 2020 and the Dodgers in 2019 — were recognized prior to the game. The Dodgers were not recognized last year when the coronavirus pandemic nixed opening day ceremonies.
Outgoing players were also recognized, receiving a hoodie and a gift from the league, and a sportsmanship award was presented.
The league also took a moment to honor a longtime volunteer, naming the new fieldhouse after him.
“We have a new building at the Little League field, it’s an indoor training facility for the kids. We built it last year, it’s 40′ by 80′ by 18′ high, there’s all turf in there, so it’s a fantastic opportunity for the kids and local community to take advantage of,” said Gino Capone, Athletics coach. “There’s a heck of a lot of time, work, fundraising, and effort that went into it by a lot of people that are at this field and all the volunteers that we have. It took a total team effort to get that built.”
“Today, we want to name the new indoor building and honor Bill Urbanowicz for his many years of volunteerism and devotion to the Ashland Little League Field,” Capone added. “As Bill calls it, ‘The Pole Barn,’ it will now be officially named the Bill Urbanowicz Training Facility.”
Capone extended thanks to call current and former volunteers and sponsors of the league for helping pave the way to the building’s construction, with specific thanks going to Universal Forest Products, Gordon, and Pioneer Pole Buildings.
Another volunteer and community member recognized Saturday was longtime, now retired, Ashland Police Chief Adam Bernodin, Jr., who was asked to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
Bernodin served with Ashland’s police force for nearly four decades, and is currently a patrolman with the Shenandoah Borough Police Department, serving as the school resource officer at Shenandoah Valley Elementary. Bernodin, over the past four decades, has been involved in various youth sports, including Ashland Little League, where he created an expansion team, the Astros, in the 1980s.
That team, along with the league’s other expansion team, the Red Sox, have since disbanded as the area’s population has decreased.
Following opening ceremonies, teams took to the diamond to begin the regular season.
The Yankees and Dodgers faced off in the first game of the day, followed by the Pirates and the Athletics, and the Orioles and Phillies.
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