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History
With over
650 participants Coconut Creek Little League is one of Florida's largest
individual league's serving the cities of Coconut Creek & Margate,
Florida . The League fielded 56 teams in seven
competitive and three instructional Divisions in 2008 and is the only
Little League in North Broward county to offer a Girl's Softball program.
We
are looking forward to another great Baseball and Girl's
Softball season in 2009 and thank all the volunteers and
Sponsors who make it possible. The objective of Coconut Creek Little
League is to implant firmly in the children of the
Community the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty,
loyalty, courage and respect for authority so that they
may be well adjusted, strong and happier children.
The Coconut Creek Baseball Club was founded in
1996 and played it's Inaugural season in 1997. The
original baseball Club had only 10 T-ball and 6 Coach pitch teams
and had no player pitch divisions and played all their games at Cocoplum (George Gerber) Park and Hosford Park. Founding Board
members included President Randy Johnson who still holds that post
today, Randy is the only remaining board member left from the
league's founding fathers which included Albert Muniz, Jim Henry,
Bob Webster, Wes Schaffer, Scott Sundermeier, David Anderson,
Clark McCall, Allan & Bernadette Hathaway, Andrea Koss & Carolyn
Beamer.
Competitive Player Pitch Divisions were
added in 1998 and Coach Pitch and T-ball Divisions would switch to
non-competitive formats which would be an attractive draw for the
league bringing in many new players. By 1999 the league would
more than double in size to 40 teams. The League would also receive
a probationary charter from Little League Baseball inc., in 1999
and celebrated it's fifth anniversary as a member of that
organization in 2004. The league would also publish it's first
yearbook that year.
The 2000 season brought Major League
replica uniforms to the Creek baseball program for the first time
and official recognition as a Little League Member of Florida's
District 10. The League also had a brand new place to play as
Coconut Creek opened Lakeside Park in 2000 and the burgeoning league
quickly filled the city's available fields. The year 2000 also
brought Coconut Creek Little League to the world wide web as
www.ccllb.com, the predecessor to the site you are now on, went live
to the world. The Little league Board of Directors also
surged to 20 members and their efforts were instrumental to the
growth and success of the league. The league also suffered
tragedy this year as Umpire Chief Paul Mosher was tragically killed
in a automobile accident in the summer of 2000.

The League began a new era in 2001 as the City and the League
inaugurated a new showcase facility with the opening of Sabal Pines
Park. This "Field of Dreams' included two multi-use and
two baseball exclusive fields. Coconut Creek was now a
baseball destination in Broward County. The League also
gave the Girls a "League of their own" as it opened its inaugural
Girls Softball season with six teams in 2001 as the League increased
to 58 teams.
The league continued it's expansion in 2002
as the league grew to 63 teams. The Women's auxiliary had one of its
strongest year ever under the leadership of Destineylee Poole and
Linda Sanders- Klarman our team mom meetings become events and the
league came closer together with our Spaghetti Dinner, Flea market,
Jamboree and Our 1st Annual Golf Outing.
The League continued to expand in 2003 & 2004 as the league grew
to 69 teams and 840 children as we added a Coach Pitch Girls
Softball Division. The 2005 season was a marked by dramatic
change as we welcomed 7 new Board members and said goodbye to some
long time members who had been instrumental to the development of
the League. The League grew rapidly as well in 2005 surging to
950 players and 74 teams as the league added a Minor Girls Softball
Division and split our Coach Pitch Division into two separate
divisions to better prepare our older players for competitive
baseball. 'Billy' the Marlin Stopped by to kick of our
Jamboree and we finally got to see a team other than the Atlanta
Braves as Our Hometown Florida Marlins played host to the newly
minted Washington Nationals in our 7th annual league trip the
Marlin's Youth Baseball day.
2006
marked the League's 10th Anniversary, but the year's events would
hardly be cause for celebration as Coconut Creek Little League faced
it's most challenging season ever. Tragedy struck the League
again as board member, friend and dedicated volunteer Tom Greco was
killed in a tragic motorcycle accident in October 2005.
Shortly thereafter Hurricane Wilma ripped through Coconut Creek and
caused major devastation, rendering 6 of the Leagues 10 fields
unplayable for the 2006 season. The season start date needed
to be pushed back to March. The Opening day Jamboree had to be
cancelled. Our Junior & Senior Players did not have a home field and
played all of there games in Deerfield, Parkland & Coral Springs.
Player enrollment declined for the first time in the League's
history and because of these delays the regular Baseball & Girl's
Softball seasons, for the first time, ended after the school year.
Despite these setbacks the 2006 Board should truly be commended for
there work in even being able to have a season under these trying
circumstances. Things were not all bad, we ended the season
with a bang as we had an exciting Playoffs, our most successful
All-Star tournament season ever with three top 3 finishes including
our Major All-Stars competing in the District 10 Championship game
and we hosted for the first time ever a Florida State Tournament.
The League look forwards to next season and bigger and better
things in the years to come.
The League is a product of many long hours by our
many volunteers and the League is proud to boast it is a 100%
volunteer operation. Besides the league's founding members and
other mentioned above, the League owes a deep gratitude to the
following individuals for their time and effort over the years.
Gale Kasler, Joanne & Nick Abatecola, Sandy Koplowitz, Mark &
Belinda Ripoll,
Terry Mohr, Orlando "Bobby" Hernandez, Armando Sargent, Mike
Denofrio, David & Dianna Singleton, Max Rosario, Steve Merlin, Guy Bartolotta, Nancy Ford, Kim Ali, Jim Finley, Mark Geiger, Mike
Donnelly, Robert & Jackie Buckley, Joe Porcelli, Mike Ramaglia,
Yvonne Hutchinson & John Kuhn . The League could not survive
without the support of our sponsors, special thanks go to Webster's
Team Sports which was one of our original sponsors in 1997 and has
supported the league every year since.
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