A First for Little League in Town

Little League in Windsor has been widdled down from three to two to one league.

Sunday, the one league in town, Windsor Little League, celebrated the opening of its inaugural season with a traditional Little League parade from Washington Park to Fitch Field, where the opening day pitch was thrown for both baseball and softball.

Windsor Little League was created this year after the consolidation of Windsor American (W.A.L.L.) and Windsor International (W.I.L.L.) Little Leagues — an effort to combine resources and make better use of the town's facilities, according to Windsor Little League President Fred Tanguay.

The consolidation will also rid the youth sport of any confusion in town.

"The kids all go to school together. They all know each other," said Tanguay, who added the organization had to petition Little League in order to grant Windsor permission to only run one league.

The national Little League organization requires towns with a population over 20,000 to have multiple leagues, he said.

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Unfortunately, multiple little leagues in town caused a little confusion at times.

"The border we were told we had to use was this kind of obscure millbrook," Tanguay said. "When it's dry, sometimes it's not even there. So everybody said 'Where's this brook?'

"It was always hard to explain how if you were on this side of the street you had to play there, and if you were on that side of the street you had to play over there. Now we're all together."

During Sunday's opening ceremonies, the 2012 Jack Welch award was given to one softball and one baseball player.

Jessica Dillon won the award for softball, while Ryan Crisanti took home the honor for baseball.

The Jack Welch award is given to a softball and baseball player in recognition of his or her hard work, perseverance and character over the course of a season.

A plaque with all past winners hangs in .

In addition to consolidating leagues, Windsor's youth baseball organizations have consolidated Websites as well. You can visit the Windsor Little League Website by going to www.WindsorLL.com.