Little League Lives, In The Heights

Batter up!

That was the word (or two) on a half cloudy-half sunny Saturday afternoon as Jayden Alexander stepped in for travel team batting practice at Dom Aitro Field in Fair Haven Heights. 

Now in its sixth decade, the eponymous league — and its 1950s-era field dropped in a bowl at the base of the heights off Clifton Street — are still in the game with dedicated coaches, finally some improved drainage, and for the first time ever, the thrill of tall bright lights for night games.

This year approximately 125 kids from all over New Haven, ranging from Tee ballers to travel teams, are participating in the Babe Ruth League and its Cal Ripkin Division, the latter with shorter pitching (50 feet) and base distances (70 feet) for kids up to 12.

As the sky changed from threatening to bright, the players showed their stuff under the serious tutelage of coaches Junior Pimental, Ed Santiago (who is also president of the league), Tom Barrett (who is in charge of travel for the teams), and Anthony Gambardella, the league’s treasurer.

Members of the 11 and 12-year-old traveling team, like Robert Gallishaw and Christian Garcia, put in four hours of practice a week, and it’s fun but also serious stuff. The ball is hard and the coaches like Pimental, whose daughter is one of two girls on the team and a star at shortstop, send it the batters’ way, one kid at a time, at the plate, at about 30 mph, Pimental said.

Then the second round of BP pitches come at the kids at closer to 50, which is approximately the speed of pitching in the kids’ formal games. While the batters connect or miss, the other coaches, positioned at different vantages on both sides of the cage, called for the batter to step in more, to use their legs, to swing through.

Christian, who attends the Benjamin Jepson School in the Heights, also played football and said he and his mom had discussions about pursuing both sports or focusing on just one. In the end Christian decided he wanted to get really proficient at something, and baseball was chosen. Coach Barrett pointed out that even after a long break from play due to Covid, Christian is back and is an extremely strong hitter.

Of the aspects of the game he enjoys most, however, hitting takes a back seat, he said, to running and catching. His friend Robert, who plays first base and catcher, likes the competitiveness of the game, and the chance to play different positions. At the Fair Haven School, on Grand Avenue, which he attends, there is no baseball and few sports teams.

To this former kids’ baseball coach’s eye, however, Junior Pimental’s daughter Jaylee was quite the most amazing. Despite her slight build, she consistently hit the ball hard during her time at the plate, lifting several toward those new light towers into left field and shooting hard-hit grounders through the gaps between infielders.

Playing since she was six, Jaylee, who attends the Bishop Woods School, said, ​“I’m able to be aggressive, and [since she’s been playing since she was six], I know all these people.”

Was her dad, who was pitching, sending her easy ones? Absolutely not, he insisted. Pimental said he himself played college ball in Puerto Rico and the pleasure of the game runs through the family.

Busy working a range of shifts in aircraft manufacturing plants, Pimental said it was often difficult for him to attend all Jaylee’s practices. But he made decisions, shifted the shifts, enabling him to attend more practices; it wasn’t long before Barrett and Gambardella and the long-time officials at the league recruited him to coach.

Saturday afternoon he was on the hill doing a lot of the BP pitching and also to give pointers to his daughter as she fearlessly fielded shots low to the ground both at shortstop and the hot corner.

The kids were learning and the coaches were clearly enjoying teaching the skills, and a gaggle of parents at picnic tables on the nearby hill were getting to know each other better.

For Tom Barrett, who makes the bookings and arrangements for the travel teams, the league is very much a family affair going back to when he was a kid and playing in the league. These days, he said, his involvement is in no small part because he knows the time the kids spend practicing and playing their games they’re safe and off the street, and they are learning. 

Citing the pandemic, Santiago said that when the kids returned many ​“were with their X‑boxes” and other media in hand, and had forgotten how to associate with others. Baseball helped them re-learn, he said.

In its 66^th season, the Dom Aitro League was recently the beneficiary of city and state funding (through bonding) to address the drainage, lights, dugout fencing, and other problems. Coach Gambardella said the drainage isn’t yet what it’s supposed to be, but markedly improved. 

Barrett pointed to the tall, professional lighting towers that can make a baseball field at night magic, especially for little kids. ​“Let there be light,” he said.

Gambardella reported to this reporter that Andrew Marrero, who had been an outstanding shortstop on the baseball team at Wilbur Cross High School and since became a student athlete at UConn, was recently drafted into the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system; he began his career on Dom Aitro Field.

For more information and to support the league, here’s the site.