No merger between CWLL, CLCF

CWLL and CLCF not merging after all

Kevin Pomeroy, Sports Editor
Posted 12/18/14

On Nov. 20, the Cranston Herald reported that Cranston’s League for Cranston’s Future (CLCF) and Cranston Western Little League (CWLL) were merging to form a Little League softball …

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No merger between CWLL, CLCF

CWLL and CLCF not merging after all

Posted

On Nov. 20, the Cranston Herald reported that Cranston’s League for Cranston’s Future (CLCF) and Cranston Western Little League (CWLL) were merging to form a Little League softball program.

While that merger was talked about and reached the final stages of discussions, it was never formally agreed on. A week later, the CLCF board voted against the merger, ending the process.

The Herald regrets the error.

CLCF president Jim Dillon says that the merger nearly happened, but at this moment, it wasn’t quite right for their organization.

“We got to the alter, and there were lots of reasons for it,” Dillon said. “Some folks on the board felt negative about it. We sat down and had the final presentation from the softball folks. After all the back and forth, we took a vote and that’s what happened.”

It was disappointing for Western, but president Steven Piscopiello insisted there are no hard feelings.

“We’re all disappointed at CWLL, simply because everything around this state should be about consolidation and not duplication,” Piscopiello said. “We just felt as though this was a great opportunity for two organizations that have not worked together to work together for a good cause. But they were gentlemen. The people we dealt with were very cordial and easy to work with.”

The merger would have created a second Little League softball program in the state, to go along with Cranston National Budlong, which currently draws players from all around the city.

That clearly won’t be happening now in the form of a joint venture, but both CLCF and Western are now exploring the possibility of adding Little League softball individually.

It’s a process to get that started, and there’s no timetable for when it may happen, although both organizations are hoping to get it done sooner rather than later.

“It’s not that we think Little League is better than what we’re doing, it just offers more opportunities for the kids than what we’re doing right now,” Dillon said.

Piscopiello expects softball at Western, at the latest, by 2016.

“I think the end result is that at some point in the very, very near future, you’re going to see girls’ softball at Cranston Western. We’re exploring that as we speak. We’re not doing that to compete with anybody. We’re just doing it because, as the numbers dwindle, we feel this is a resource that needs to happen in the western part of Cranston. As the numbers dwindle on the boys side, adding a girls side makes a lot of sense.”

And, in the future, neither side has closed the door on working together again. It just didn’t work out this time.

“I was very impressed with Cranston Western’s leadership and I really feel bad that we weren’t able to do something together,” Dillon said. “But maybe down the road.”

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