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Clashing views lead to problems between GDLL, Cannons
As the Gainesville District Little League grows each year in player membership, an anomaly of sorts has taken place: none of the 120 families of kids who play for the travel-team Gainesville Cannons also play Little League.That's despite the fact that the Cannons are based in the heart of the Gainesville District Little League's recruiting area and there's no logistical reason why children couldn't play both for a travel team and a Little League team.
But Matt Caudle, manager of the state-qualifying Battlefield High School varsity baseball team, instructed his players this summer that they should focus on team-oriented games like those played by the Cannons, instead of joining the GDLL. In fact, only one varsity player, Danny Drzal, actually competed on the GDLL's only senior-league team, which by default became the all-star team.
At the same time, Lower Loudoun Little League's senior all-star team featured nothing but experienced players at the high school level and they went on to win districts one year after the Battlefield-heavy GDLL team won a trip to Winchester.
So what are the disconnects between the league and outside baseball groups?
For travel teams and Battlefield High School, it's all about priorities, agreed GDLL board member Niko Agnos and Gainesville Cannons coach Tim Dooley.
"As for why we can't get some of those kids in our league, they have a demanding schedule, I guess," said Agnos.
Agnos added the situation with the high school may change by next year from what he heard from Caudle.
"He had mentioned that if in the future, things were planned properly, that shouldn't be an issue," Agnos said.
As for the travel teams, they tend to have select line-ups often focused on winning tournaments like those sanctioned by the USSSA. Little League, at its core, is open for any kid to join.
That creates mismatches at the Little League level when all-star players are up against opponents who might be swinging a bat for the first time. Travel teams tend to practice more than Little League teams and the expected level of play is generally greater as the teams are constantly up again tough competition.
The history between the GDLL and the Gainesville Cannons is akin to a "bad divorce," according to Dooley.
A group of five fathers on the GDLL board of directors wanted to start a travel team featuring players strictly out of the GDLL area six years ago. Ten board members voted against that, however, and the five fathers who wanted the team took matters into their own hands and created the Gainesville Cannons.
The main objective for the travel team, aside from developing highly-skilled players, was for the players to win travel tournaments. So kids who played both Little League and travel ball had priorities clash from time to time.
Years later, the GDLL established its own travel team, the Haymarket Bulls. That organization's players focus on winning Little League-level games, such as the district and state all-star matches.
"I was a Little League person myself. But today, we're talking about 1,200 to 1,300 members," said Dooley. "There is a small percentage of kids that ... should go into travel baseball."
Both sides cite communication problems with the other when discussing why the relationship between the GDLL and Cannons are so strained.
One recent source of contention between the two sides stemmed from this past weekend's Battle at Bull Run, a 41-team tournament hosted by the Cannons at various locations in western Prince William County. One of the most active sites was Catharpin Park, which opened in 2007 and primarily hosts GDLL games on its ball fields.
With the Little League season wrapping up, the GDLL board decided to take its batting nets back from the fields. While the fields belong to the Prince William County Park Authority, the nets are property of the GDLL.
But instead of letting the Cannons use the nets for the tournament, they went down two days before the tournament started.
"We were planning to take them down" once the GDLL stopped using the Catharpin fields, said Agnos, who said the league's board was well aware of tournament.
"They're deliberately doing [that] because of the personal spite," countered Dooley in a separate phone interview.
Dooley pointed out that the Haymarket Bulls were one of the teams competing at the tournament, raising the question of why the GDLL would not let its own team use those nets.
Agnos said that the GDLL and Bulls "have nothing to do with each other" as far as day-to-day operations are concerned.
"If they wanted to use things, if they wanted to use the amenities ... There was no outreach done whatsoever," said Agnos.
"They couldn't wait a week?" asked Dooley, later adding, "The point is, why take them down? ... It was spiteful."
That was not the case to Agnos, however.
"There was no communication from the Cannons organization from the league for what they're doing," he said.
Some volunteers from the Cannons organization ended up supplying their own nets and had them up and ready to go by game time.
What the two sides actually have left to talk about, if they were to sit down at the same table, is a combination of priorities, scheduling and the number of pitches players are allowed to throw at Little League games on weekdays if they have travel schedules on weekends.
Both Agnos and Dooley said they hold no grudges toward the other side.
"We don't go out and do things to (tick) people off," said Agnos.
"In the end, what's right, I don't know," said Dooley. "But if there's a kid in Little League that deserves the opportunity to compete and excel at a high level, push him to go to a travel team."
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