Cene Park, Class B receive praise

October 18, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

I wanted to recognize and give thanks to the Cene family and the [Class] B League for providing area youth a first-class facility and league to display their baseball talents.

I would like to recognize the accomplishments of teams from the three divisions in the league. In the 14 year old division, Astro Falcons managed by Steve Leslie won the league championship and qualified for the NABF World Series in Tennessee.

The Rizer Group 14-year-old team managed by Gerry Senchak qualified and won the world series championship.

In the 16u division, Creekside Fitness managed by Bob Boughner won the league championship and qualified and won the NABF World Series in Tennessee. It was the second time in four years Creekside won the world series.

Baird Brothers managed by Angelo Bianco also qualified for the world series. The Astro Falcons managed by Bob Beam qualified for the NABF regional. Roth Brothers managed by Mike Cefalde qualified and won the Colt regional in Cranberry, Pa., and went to the Colt Zone in North Carolina and finished second.

In the 18u division Astro Shapes managed by Andy Timko won the league championship and qualified and made it to the semifinal of the NABF Senior World Series held at Cene Park. Creekside Fitness managed by Terry Landis also qualified and made it to the semifinal.

Roth Brothers managed by Matt McGivern also qualified for the world series. The league put together an all-star team managed by Timko to play in the Palomino Zone and won the zone and qualified to play the Palomino World Series in California. Glaciers managed by Don Pletcher and Rudzik Construction managed by Tom Otto qualified for the Palomino Regional held in Butler, Pa.

The League also had two in season tournaments. Astro won the rain shortened 18u Triple Crown Tournament and Creekside Fitness won the rain shortened Bob Cene Memorial Tournament.

To make the B League and Cene Park run successfully many people are involved in the effort: the managers and coaches of all three divisions; and league officials Scott Ruark, Otto, Ray Wells, Boughner and Leslie. Others are Tony Gorvet; head scorekeeper Catlin Otto; press box personnel Red Baker and John Grace; head groundskeepers Don Watt and Ron Bovo and their crews; Beam who oversaw the scheduling of games at Cene Park; and Frank Cimento and his concession stand crew.

The Bob Cene Memorial attracted 24 teams from Ohio and Pennsylvania. Bob Cene and league founders Jim Devlin, Mike Goldstone, Rudy Granito, Bob Hernandez, Bobby Jones, George Kelso, Don Livi and Gobby Mosco were honored from their contributions.

Ken Quinn, Campbell