Saugus Babe Ruth returns with winning results in the fall and spring seasons

By Joe McConnell

The Saugus Babe Ruth League successfully resurrected itself from the ashes last year with a Fall Ball team under the leadership of its president and manager John Benoit. Prior to that, it has been at least 15 years since the town had a place where graduating Little League players could go to locally to keep on playing the summer game.

During the program’s absence, Lynn Babe Ruth did open up its doors to merge with Saugus as a means to provide an outlet for its players ages 13-16 to compete against other North Shore communities.

“The league officially disbanded (as a chartered organization) about 10 to 15 years ago, because it didn’t have the volunteers to run it,” Benoit said, “and so as a result, the players, who aged out of (Saugus) Little League at 12-years-old and still wanted to continue playing baseball, had to go to Lynn or other surrounding towns to join their leagues.”

Upon its return last fall, there was only one team of 15 players, ages 12-15, and Benoit coached it with Jeff Natalucci, Yat Voong and Joe Miranda. By season’s end, they ended up beating Peabody to win the Fall Ball championship.

Not originally from Saugus, Benoit moved here in 2011 after marrying a native Saugonian. “We have four boys ages 13, 12, 9 and 8, who all love playing baseball,” he said. “I first got involved with Saugus Little League as a coach, before spending the last four years volunteering my time as its president. As my oldest son approached his last year of Little League eligibility, I started to look into options for Babe Ruth, and what needed to be done to get the program back to Saugus. Through connections that I made in Little League, I was able to track down the right people to start the process of getting Saugus rechartered. We also had to establish the league as a non-profit organization, so we could properly fundraise.”

That process to set everything back up wasn’t easy. “I initially had to pay out of my own pocket to (take care of) the charter fees and league insurance, which totaled $3,000,” added Benoit. “(I was eventually) able to cover those costs with the registration fees. (At the conclusion of last year’s Fall Ball season), we were able to break even after paying out for uniforms, baseballs, umpire fees and field costs.”

The plan going forward is for more fundraising to help grow the program that should give future players a great opportunity to enjoy the sport in their own community.

Benoit has brought together others in town, who have his ideals. “We have a very small board made up of Saugus moms and dads, who share the same passion with me for baseball, as well as youth sports in general,” he said.

For the most part, they were Saugus Little League board members at one time. Today, they are coming up with the decisions to make sure the Saugus Babe Ruth League thrives for many years to come.

Making up this year’s board is Benoit (president), Natallucci (vice president), Tom Vitiello (treasurer), Jessica DeThomas (social media director), Yat Voong (umpire-in-chief), Sal Beatini (fundraising director) and Miranda (Major Team Director).

The program grew to two teams – Major (ages 14-16) and Prep (ages 12-13) – this spring, and both were very successful during the regular season. The Major team, in fact, went undefeated.  But during the state tournament, the respective all-star teams didn’t fare as well. They each failed to record a victory. Natalucci and Miranda coached the spring teams with help from Sal Beatini, Tom Vitiello, Rob Streeter, Dusan Basta and Voong.

“One of the great things about bringing Babe Ruth Baseball back to Saugus has been the opportunity to give our youth baseball players the experience of playing on an elite diamond like World Series Park,” said Benoit. “Bob Davis has done a tremendous job over the years to make World Series Park what it is, a top-notch baseball facility (for every player). Aside from the regular season games there, we also hosted a few all-star state tournament games, and I look forward to continuing to partner with Bob Davis to host more state tournament games in the future.”

The league’s second Fall Ball season is right around the corner, and its registration link should be available soon on its Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578566096077, and click on the registration tab. Any questions on the newest Saugus sports program, email John Benoit at sa*****************@***il.com, or direct message him on its Facebook page.

“Last fall, we again had one large team, but this year we hope to have two, while next spring we’d like to field three teams,” said Benoit.

And improved registration numbers that begin over the next month will achieve those projections.