Bayside Little League concluded the spring 2023 season on June 23 with the 12U final matchup in the Northeast Queens Baseball Alliance World Championship, which marked the end of a season that saw the league’s largest growth since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The victors for each age group were Little Neck-Douglaston Lightning (12U), Dwarf Giraffe Whitestone (10U) and College Point (8U).
For LND General Manager Nicholas Singh, this championship in the 12U league is a reward to the kids and coaches who have put in months and years of work. Additionally, he noted this season marked the first time since the pandemic that there were nine teams in the 12U division.
“Overall, from ages 5-12, there were 34 teams this year,” Singh said. “That’s remarkable growth, especially considering it’s usually hard to get kids to register and [baseball] is more expensive than other sports.”
The 12U LND team ended up finishing the regular season with a 8-2-1 record.
Singh said several of the league’s commissioners were on hand for the 12U championship game between LND and College Point. Also on hand to watch the game were high school baseball coaches, who got to see the players from both LND and College Point showcase their skills. LND ended up winning 3-2 in a fast-paced pitchers duel.
“I was a teacher for 15 years,” Singh said. “Knowing that high school coaches are watching and they want to get our kids into their schools is a big deal to me. I’d like to see all our kids get into a good high school and if they can continue to play great baseball at the high school level, that would be a great achievement.”
While the spring season just ended, Singh is already looking forward to the fall season. This eight-week season runs from September to October and will conclude by Halloween. Singh said he feels the fall season is usually more indicative of how a team looks, noting that many of the kids playing in the fall had the time to warm up throughout the spring season. As Singh prepares to enroll his team for the fall, he is hopeful that all nine teams in the 12U division will return.
“I want to definitely give a shout-out to my coaching staff,” Singh said. “Without my coaching staff, I can’t do it. There’s incredible pressure to be in every single game. We’re all working dads and we only have about three Saturday games. Without the coaching staff, we would never have won.”
According to Singh, the LND 12U team won the title despite being shorthanded. While they began the season with 14 kids, three of them ended up suffering injuries that sidelined them for the remainder of the season. He credits the commitments made from parents, as well as the kids, to consistently show up and ensure that they had enough players to field a team.
Another obstacle Singh’s team had to overcome was the fact that they played every single game on the road. However, he has been working with Council members Vickie Paladino and Linda Lee to secure new field permits and possible field renovations.
“We’ve had a really good run for six years,” Singh said. [LND Vice President of Baseball and Northeast Queens Baseball Alliance Commissioner Ralph Cenname, Manager Lou Balkovic and I] developed and nurtured the team. We did a bunch of clinics and did summer camps and we did everything for free.”
For more information on the Little Neck-Douglaston Little League program, visit lndbaseball.org.
