Not too many years ago, he was a little guy racing all over the T-ball field, making every play. An NYO star at every level (although you'd never know it by his self-effacing manner), he helped lead Marist High School to baseball state championships. On Tuesday, Chesny Young was named Atlantic-Sun Conference baseball player of the year. A sophomore, Chesny became the first Mercer Bear to earn the title since his head coach, Craig Gibson, won it in 1985.

Because Chesny would want you to know how his team is doing before he'd talk about his own accomplishments, the Bears are 42-14 and won their first-ever A-Sun regular-season title with a 20-7 record in the 10-team league. They are ranked #2 in College Baseball's Top-25 mid-major poll.  They rank 23rd in the USA
Today/ESPN Coaches Poll of all college teams. A-Sun tournament play begins Wednesday with Mercer the top seed. As for Chesny?

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NYO crowned a slew of baseball champions on a rainy Sunday, but one old team distinguished itself, even though its players wielded rakes, rather than bats. Many of its members have been hanging around NYO for years. Some read the email plea for volunteers, put down whatever they were doing and responded. Collectively, their hard work allowed eight of 11 championship games to be played on fields that had absorbed more than 1.5 inches of rain.

Because of them, 7-year-old Jackson Davis of the Rookie Nationals, experienced the joy of belting a home run over the left-field fence of the Blackwell East field in his league's 'gold' championship game. Because of them, Rookie Braves manager Brad Glenn got to see his team win the 'silver' championship before dashing to the airport to catch a once-delayed flight to a business meeting. Because of them, the 13-and-14-year-old American Pony Angels won their championship on the Garr Field in a three-hour, lightning-delayed game.

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When your team is down 7-3 with two outs in the final inning of what may be its final game and rallies to win, 8-7, you 'go from thinking about the post-game speech of 'It's been a good season' to 'what happened?'' Brian Raley, coach of the Major League Honey Badgers, had his speech written in his head. But he scrapped it because of what happened in what he said seemed like four minutes.

Three times on Tuesday night, that scenario --- or one like it --- played out on the fastpitch softball fields of NYO. That it happened in three games that ended within 20 minutes of each other made the evening all the more remarkable. Then again, it's championship week at NYO. Anything can happen. Unlike at Turner Field where fans bail out if the Braves trail by more than two going into the bottom of the ninth, NYO patrons stick around. This was one of those nights they were glad they did.    

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Were it not for the ponytail that emerges from the back of her baseball cap, you might never know. She steps to the plate in the first inning of a playoff game at the Jane Wilkins Bronco Field and effortlessly drives the ball on a line into center field for a single. Two runs score. Katie Goldberg, the lone girl in the Bronco League, has done it again.

The grace and beauty of Katie's game (she plays shortstop, pitches and bats third for the Giants) is matched only by the unexceptional way teammates, coaches and fans react to her performance. This is not one of those dopey stories about the talented female athlete making her way in a male game. Katie's teammates and competitors only wish they played the game --- on the field and off --- as well as she does. It's also why Katie has been awarded the Kyle Burnat award that honors the 12-year-old 'who most embodies the NYO experience.'

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Were it not for the ponytail that emerges from the back of her baseball cap, you might never know. She steps to the plate in the first inning of a playoff game at the Jane Wilkins Bronco Field and effortlessly drives the ball on a line into center field for a single. Two runs score. Katie Goldberg, the lone girl in the Bronco League, has done it again.

The grace and beauty of Katie's game (she plays shortstop, pitches and bats third for the Giants) is matched only by the unexceptional way teammates, coaches and fans react to her performance. This is not one of those dopey stories about the talented female athlete making her way in a male game. Katie's teammates and competitors only wish they played the game --- on the field and off --- as well as she does. It's also why Katie has been awarded the Kyle Burnat award that honors the 12-year-old 'who most embodies the NYO experience.'

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Ruby Freeman greets five-year-old Nalina Welch by name, takes her hand and leads her into the third-base dugout at the Jane Wilkins Field. It's the final Saturday of the spring season for the Christopher League, an NYO program for children with special needs whose 'buddies,' like Ruby, help them play and enjoy baseball. For every one of the two dozen, or so, Christopher League players, there are two or three buddies, many of whom play baseball or fastpitch softball at NYO.  

Ruby, a junior honors student at Riverwood High School, gave up softball a few years ago, but she kept her commitment to the Christopher League. 'I get the most apologetic emails when she can't show up,' says Leo Rose, now in his 14th year heading the program. It's that dedication that led to Ruby being named the second recipient of the Nick Napolitano award, which recognizes 'the buddy who best exemplifies putting others first.'

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Baseball lore skews heavily toward fathers and sons. Think 'Field of Dreams.' Moms, on the other hand, rarely get the recognition they deserve. But where would recreational baseball and fastpitch softball, including at NYO, be, were it not for Moms? Mother's Day 2013 provides a time for reflection.

From late January to mid-May, who fills out all the forms, sees to it that practices and games are reached on time, washes and mends uniforms and, most important,  provides sanity, perspective, encouragement and comfort? Moms do! They know that a strikeout or an error in the field is not the end of the world, even if dad doesn't. They know each teammate's name before the season has barely started, and they place more importance on the equity of who plays and who rides the bench than they do on winning.

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Before you read any further, you need to know that Jane Wilkins, NYO's executive director, is fine, even if her car isn't. It was hit by two trees and set afire by downed electrical lines late Saturday afternoon. Shaken but uninjured, Jane tells a harrowing tale as she sits at her desk in the Dowis building on a Tuesday morning.

Heading west on Windsor Parkway as it approaches Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Jane stopped her 2004 Mercedes when a limb fell onto the road in front of her car. The vehicle behind her also stopped, preventing her from backing up. As she looked up through the windshield, she saw the giant oak falling toward the roof of her car. She said she covered her face with her hands and crouched toward the steering wheel, awaiting impact. Electrical power lines acted like a safety net, slowing the tree's fall. But the live wires sparked in the downpour and set parts of her car on fire. Winds blew the wires wildly. As the first tree fell, it toppled another tree on the opposite side of the street. That tree fell across the hood of Jane's car. Both front doors were blocked by the fallen oak, the handle on the driver's side was burned off, and Jane was trapped.   

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Their 10-2 record (as of this past weekend) attests to the on-the-field strength of the NYO Double-A Pirates. It's what they did off-the-field on a rainy Sunday that also speaks to their character. With the same ease they show in hitting and fielding, the 9-year-old Pirates stuffed one meat, one rice and one soup into bags to feed the hungry. 

In lieu of a regularly scheduled practice, the team went to a food pantry, according to assistant coach Greg Lewis, and learned about life beyond the fields of NYO. 'We think every team should do some soft of service project,' Lewis said he and manager Tadd Thomas agreed. The Pirate players and parents were asked to contribute a bag, or two, of food and to report to the Suthers Center, which describes itself as a 'place for outreach in the Chamblee and Brookhaven neighborhoods.'

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She's more like Peppermint Patty (the star athlete whose baseball team always trounces Charlie Brown's squad), but in Lenny Olim's memory she will always be the Little Red-Haired Girl who robbed him of a game-winning base hit 33 years ago when they were both 7 and playing at  NYO. It's a convoluted story made all the foggier by three-plus decades. But it's one worth re-visiting, especially because their sons are now teammates for the NYO Rookie Orioles, playing together at the same age when their parents competed.  

Kelly Westrom, then Kelly Whitfield, was one of four girls playing NYO baseball as a seven-year-old. Her older brother Billy and she 'played all the time.' According to her dad, who watches his grandson on the Blackwell East field these days, 'She could catch anything. We called her glue fingers.' It was just such a catch that broke young Lenny Olim's heart.

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From the baseball fields of NYO to the outfield grass of Georgia Tech's Russ Chandler Stadium, Brandon Thomas has excelled every step of the way. Now, it's our turn to help one of our own get a recognition he deserves. Put aside your college loyalties. For Brandon spent eight years --- from toddler to teen --- growing up on the NYO fields. 

Brandon is one of 10 Division One baseball seniors up for the NCAA's 2013 Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award. From now until June 10 fans can vote by going to: seniorclassaward.com/news/view/baseball_finalists_announced_for_the_2013_senior_class_award/. Once there, click on 'Brandon Thomas,' followed by the 'Vote Now' button beneath his picture. Fan votes (you can vote once a day) count one-third toward the selection. Media and baseball head coaches each get a one-third say. The winner will be announced during the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, June 15-26.  

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Crazy Eddie's slushie (it contains all the flavors) is the after-game drink of choice for young NYO baseball and fastpitch softball players at the American Roadhouse concession stand, according to Jimmy Miller, its manager since 2000. Snow Cone is the ice-cream favorite, and Big-League Chew (bubblegum) leads in the candy category. If you are between the ages of 4 and 8, you get a red ticket at the end of every baseball game. It's worth $1.50, the exact price of a small Crazy Eddie's slushie. 'They don't care if they've won or lost,' Paige Fielden, co-president of the NYO Ladies Auxiliary, says of the kids. 'What matters is that they have their ticket.'

But the concession stand is more, much more, than an end-of-the-game place for little ones to race to get a treat. It serves breakfast on weekends until 10:30 a.m. It prepares meals entire families consume while watching a child play. Some, according to facility manager Miller, call-ahead, stop by and pick up food to take home for dinner.

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It's going to be a close play and the young, inexperienced first-baseman plants himself squarely atop the bag to receive the throw. Ball, baserunner and infielder arrive at the same spot at the same time, and the collision sends both players sprawling. It's happened before, but it shouldn't happen again with the new 'safety' bases installed at first for NYO's 6, 7 and 8-year-olds. Just like the bases used in fastpitch softball, there's a white base in fair territory and an orange base in foul territory. They're attached. The white base belongs to the infielder; the orange base is for the runner.

Baseball purists may fuss, but several new rules for NYO's younger baseball players are making games safer and, in fact, truer to the spirit of the game itself. Whether by agreement among coaches or by new rules dictating, for instance, how far baserunners can advance on overthrows, the games more closely resemble the real thing. 'Would you score a kid from second on a groundball to the second-baseman?' asks Colin Trahan, who oversees umpiring for the younger leagues and has helped lead the rule changes. 'We want kids to develop (their baseball skills) in a safe manner. We've improved safety and development and the earth hasn't stopped spinning.'

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Just when it feels like it's all beginning to jell, the NYO baseball and fastpitch softball seasons hit a series of speed bumps. Private schools, parochial schools, public schools all claim their own spring-break weeks. Easter and Passover get the respect they deserve and no games are scheduled. An unusually wet spring plays havoc with schedules already squeaky tight due to too many teams for too few fields.

January's tryouts, February's draft and all those bone-chilling practices in early March seem like distant memories. Opening Day has come and gone. Games played before the calendar interrupted only hint at how far teams and players will advance by season's end. It's time for the REAL season to begin.

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Batting-practice pitches jump off the bat of the boy with the one-armed swing. He uses a left-hander's glove to catch a baseball, drops both to the ground, then grabs the ball with his right hand and makes a perfect throw. Hitting or throwing, Will Penn relies on his strong right arm and hand to do all the work. That the 10-year-old International Yankee plays baseball, and plays it well, is a tribute to parents, doctors, coaches and so many others who never stopped believing in him. Mostly, it's because a little boy never stopped believing in himself.

The brain hemorrhage and stroke occurred on July 6, 2011. In less than a year, Will had recovered enough to earn a spot on the Double-A Yankees' roster. His one on-field appearance and at-bat came in a season-ending game. He grounded out to the second-baseman and struggled to run to first base,but he sent a message: He would be back.

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That his son was big for a 10-year-old likely added to the father's embarrassment as the boy inched out of the batter's box as each pitch approached. Loud enough for those around him to hear (and sons have an uncanny ability to pick their fathers' voices out of a crowd), the dad fumed with each pitch. The boy drew a walk and his mother seemed relieved. She looked at a stranger and sighed.

Which brings us back to Jay Rutherford, the 79-year-old ski instructor about whom Dugout Doings wrote a year ago. The topic then was fear and overcoming it. The topic this year is the value of positive coaching. The two go hand-in-hand. There's something on each side of the equation for that 10-year-old's dad --- all dads, for that matter --- to learn.

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It's just a game, and two hours of baseball cannot possibly fill the void of two wives, two mothers lost to breast cancer in the last 15 months. Yet, on a blustery Wednesday night, two NYO International teams, the White Sox and the Yankees, played a game in memory of two women. Two-hundred fans, most wearing something pink, filled the seats at the Austin Armstrong Field of Dreams. Pink balloons whipped in the 48-degree breeze. Players wore pink sweatbands on their wrists and on their shoes. Eyeblack patches were replaced with Eyepink patches.

Brian Blackshaw, the White Sox manager, and Mike O'Kelley, his assistant, asked family and friends to come out. It was the first anniversary of Mary Claire Blackshaw's passing. Mike's wife, Wilma Diaz O'Kelley, died January 9, 2012. Their sons, Beau Blackshaw and Jack O'Kelley, are classmates at Holy Innocents' Episcopal School. Beau pitches and catches for the White Sox; Jack plays first base, although he prefers shortstop. It was Beau's idea to play the tribute game, according to his father. 'I asked him how he wanted to honor mommy, and he said, 'wear pink,' Brian added.

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It’s a big park, but Chastain will get a big test this coming Saturday. With four days to go, 3,460 have signed up for a Saturday afternoon beer and wine festival in the park’s blue lot, just north of the amphitheater. That’s the same day NYO holds its annual team picture day, drawing hundreds of players and coaches in addition to regularly scheduled games on the second full weekend of a new baseball season.

For $35, according to the web site of Living Social, the event’s sponsor, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. patrons can have unlimited samples of more than 100 beers and wines, hear live music from an 80’s tribute band, watch basketball on six flat-screen TVs, visit the brand-new two-story Budweiser lounge and purchase food from Atlanta’s ‘best’ food trucks.  For $45, the cost  of a VIP pass, you can arrive an hour earlier to meet winemakers and brewers and get a lanyard beer glass holder.

Mark Elliott, former chairman of the NYO board, said his group is a ‘strident opponent’ of the festival. Although the NYO facilities and the blue lot are more than a half-mile apart, the park will be crowded with golfers, tennis players, walkers, runners and riders aboard horses not far from the festivities. The better the weather, the larger the crowds.

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He wears a Cardinals baseball uniform, but he's just a little guy. He hides behind his dad as the playful high school mascot approaches. 'I don't like them unless they have hands,' he says Then there is Margaret (the name on the back of her shirt) who throws her tiny arms around Homer the Brave, who has an enormous baseball head. She seems permanently attached to the Atlanta Braves mascot, walking in lock-step with him.

It's twenty minutes until parade time and hundreds of four-to-seven-year-olds are finding their coaches and their teams, spread across the Garr outfield grass.They wave miniature US flags and twirl Mardi Gras beads. Music blares from loudspeakers and the Whitefield drummers strike a rhythmic beat. It's NYO Opening Day 2013, the sky is a brilliant blue and the temperature edges into the low 70s. These are the sights and sounds many will forever associate with their entry into America's pasttime.

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Girls Fastpitch Softball Commissioner Brian Raley did the hard part. Microphone in hand, Raley took the mound at the Jane Wilkins Bronco Field on NYO Opening Day and told the story of Andee Poulos. Earlier, he talked privately about the 14-year-old girl who was 'all arms and legs' who pitched her team into an NYO league championship game.  

Wearing sunglasses and sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by Mom Lyn, Dad John, and younger brother George, Andee listened as Raley told the hushed crowd her story: 'Some days you remember more than others,' Raley said, recounting that January 2011 day he learned of the blood vessels that had ruptured in Andee's brain. 'We talked about Andee who was in a coma. We talked about keeping her and her family in our prayers.' When she emerged from the coma, Raley said, 'she couldn't walk, talk, eat --- because she couldn't swallow --- or control her arms and legs.'

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