CWLL seeks to improve complex this spring

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 2/4/16

After a successful summer for Cranston Western Little League, including its all-stars making it to the Little League World Series, the group has planned renovations to improve one of the state’s …

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CWLL seeks to improve complex this spring

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After a successful summer for Cranston Western Little League, including its all-stars making it to the Little League World Series, the group has planned renovations to improve one of the state’s best playing grounds.

CWLL will re-do the artificial turf in front of the dugouts at Michael P. Varrato Field and add new turf to its two batting cages. The organization will also renovate the backstop with padding and new netting. The facility was also recently alarmed and equipped with surveillance technology, thanks to a donation from Mt. Pleasant Alarms.

CWLL has also applied to Little League baseball for a grant to install lights at the adjacent Santamaria Field. The plan would cost $100,000, which would be paid out over a certain amount of years.

“Going back to when Michael Varrato had the vision of Varrato becoming a premier field, the league itself has spent close to half a million dollars of its own money,” CWLL President Steven Piscopiello said. “We’ll continue to do that, we feel as though the city does a lot for us as it is. They keep the complex up, they help us at all corners. We feel as though we can give back where we can.”

The inspiration to keep improving the facilities extends outside just CWLL. The complex has played host to the 9/10’s Eastern Regional for the past six years. Eleven teams come in from across the East Coast to play the tournament during one week in August.

The customizations for Varrato Field will cost between $15,000 and $17,000, but Piscopiello said that CWLL has always been strong at fundraising and last season’s success only helped their cause.

“The neat thing about Cranston West is we’ve always been able to be pretty successful fundraisers,” Piscopiello said. “The 9/10 invitational have always been revenue generators for us. Coming off a World Series appearance, we’ve been able to generate some revenue from that. And our general sponsors and the people who give to us every year, that stream has picked up because of the popularity of last season.”

According to Piscopiello, the padded backstop, new netting and turf should all be completed by Opening Day in late April. Should the grant money come in for the lights at Santamaria, that project could also be finished close to the opening of the season.

“We’re customizing it more to fit our identity,” Piscopiello said. “It’s going to be pretty impressive, with custom padding on the front of the wall. It’s gonna be a very vibrant spot, it always has been, but it’s going to be better this coming season.”

Piscopiello described the Cranston Western identity as one of “success,” which has been fostered over the past several years of winning from the local to national level. From upgrading uniforms and equipment to renovating the field to make playing conditions better, the changes help bolster the concept of CWLL being “one of the premier programs in the state.”

As soon as the weather improves, CWLL plans to get to work on the renovations. Piscopiello hopes that the new additions to the complex can also inspire more kids in the area to get involved in baseball.

“We always try to put our best foot forward, not only for the kids who play all-stars but for all the kids,” Piscopiello, who’s been president for four years, said. “One of the things we wanted to do was upgrade the facility because we want more kids becoming interested in playing baseball again. A lot of kids are opting not to play and we feel like one of the things to entice them to want to play is to have the beautiful facilities.”

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