Posts by Michael DeSanto

OYO Board Members recently conducted our exclusive Fall Ball Coaches’ Orientation for all our softball and baseball coaches. This meeting helps ensure all our coach volunteers are aligned in how they will leverage our organization’s resources and collaborate frequently to maximize the development of all our ballplayers across the league. What’s more, they are prepared to demonstrate great teamwork in providing our young softball and baseball players a memorable on-field experience this fall.

We hope the information attached provides our coaches with the details needed to execute a quality experience for all our ballplayers and their families. If you have any questions about the upcoming season, please contact an OYO Board Member.

As always, thank you for choosing OYO as your place for baseball and softball this fall. And, we truly appreciate your sharing your talents and volunteering to be a coach this season. Play Ball!

Links to Coaches’ Meeting Orientation Presentation:

• Presentation

Links to Helpful Baseball Coaching Resources:

• Rules
• Player Development Progression Framework

Links to Helpful Softball Coaching Resources:

• Rules
• Player Development Progression Framework

Fall is almost upon us! Pretty soon, summer will wind down and the hustle and bustle of school life will begin again. We will all be talking about teachers, school lunches, homework, schedules, and after school activities in just a short time.

The great news is baseball and softball fun is just getting started! It’s time for Fall Ball 2021! We are watching the numbers climb daily, and we are looking forward to one of our best Fall Ball seasons ever!

More than 650 boys and girls will be taking the fields again in just two short weeks. And, we kindly request your assistance at Fall Ball Park Prep Day on Saturday, July 31 from Noon-4 p.m.

The park has never looked better than it has this year, thanks to the care and concern of many, many volunteers. The hope is to have an excellent turnout this fall, as we did in the spring. We worked together and the park looked beautiful! At Park Prep Day, there is no job too small! Kids are welcome at Park Prep Day. This fall, we will have a fun new task for them. We will have a golf cart carwash! They can have fun getting the golf carts and other equipment looking their best. There will be a special candy treat for them!

We need many folks to come out with trimmers and blowers, but aside from that, all necessary materials will be provided. We will provide gasoline, gas/oil mix, and trimmer line for those who bring trimmers and blowers.

The foundation of this league is family, friends, and community. There is no better way to spend a Saturday than at the ballpark we all love, with the people we love, giving back to our community.

A Sign Up Genius has been created to help us stay organized. Please sign and choose the task(s) you would like to help with.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to reach out to the OYO Board of Directors! When you arrive at Park Prep Day, just pop on over to the three-garage barn and check in.

Thank you ever so much for first allowing us to provide a wonderful baseball or softball experience for your player, and second, for investing in our league and our park the way you do, from coaching to serving on the board to working on fields after a rainfall to being patrons at our concession stand to helping out at Park Prep Day. On behalf of the entire OYO Board, we thank you and you are greatly appreciated! We can’t wait to see our favorite ballplayers take the fields soon!

OYO Registered Coaches, Prospective Coaches, and Interested Assistant Coaches!

Fall Ball is upon us!  With nearly 650 players registered for Fall Ball 2021, OYO is preparing its largest Fall Ball season ever.  This popular program is filling up fast and is going to be amazing!

It all starts with all of you!  You are the ones who teach, show, laugh, encourage, and bond with these awesome kids!  We hope you see coaching as a privilege to do these things!

We would like to let you know that the Coaches Meeting for the Fall Ball season will be held Thursday, July 29, at 7 p.m. at Jenn Park, 10450 East 63rd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46236.  Selected Head Coaches are truly needed at this meeting and all interested assistant coaches are also strongly encouraged to attend.

Now that the 2021 Fall Ball Season is nearly upon us, we want to ensure all our families are familiar with all the key dates for the upcoming season.

2021 Fall Ball Season Calendar of Events

• July 29 –Coaches Orientation, Player Ranking Review (Head Coaches and Assistant Coaches only)
• July 31 — Field/Park Prep (Noon-4 p.m.)
• August 1 –Rosters Released, Team Assignments Announced to families (please allow us a little grace as we will try to complete this as close to August 1 as possible!)
• August 8 –Practices Begin
• August 13 — Game Schedule Released
• August 27 — Team Uniform distribution
• August 29 — Games Begin* (played weekly on Sundays thru October 3) | All regular season game times are 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:15 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 7:15 p.m.
• September 5 — Games Played…yes we play on Labor Day weekend!
• September 12 — Team and Individual Picture Day (tentative)
• September 26 — Final Tournament Bracket posted
• October 10 — Mandatory Pre-Tournament Meeting for Coaches
• October 17 — Single-Day Elimination Tournament | All tournament game times are 10:00 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 2:30 p.m. 4:45 p.m., 7:00 p.m.
• October 24 — Single-Day Elimination Tournament (rain date)

* Sunday games that are canceled due to weather or poor field conditions will not be rescheduled per 2021 rainout policy.

​**Although we do our best to adhere to our posted schedule, OYO reserves the right to change dates if weather or field conditions make it necessary.

Come take the field at OYO this fall — and encourage your friends to do the same! We have room for more ballplayers! So, be sure you are registered and then tell your friends there’s still space for them for the 2021 Fall Ball Season.

All future registrations will be handled on a first come, first serve basis. Once we reach maximum capacity, LeagueApps will automate a waiting list process (and players can register for the waiting list at no charge).

Even as we have expanded one of our divisions by two teams recently, we currently have less than 20 roster spots remaining. Here’s the break down for our 2021 Fall Ball season:

• Seven divisions have now formed waiting lists | To be added to a waiting list, email your ballplayer’s name, DOB and your contact information to the OYO Registration Committee
• Three divisions — Tee Ball, Junior Rookie and Junior Baseball — are still welcoming additional ballplayers

That said, based on experience, we know we receive a flurry of registrations as we approach the practice season and these divisions also will soon be full. Don’t delay or you may find your ballplayer left off the ballfield this fall.

Register today! Recruit your friends today, too!

Let your friends, classmates, neighbors, and relatives know they can still join us for our spring season. Review our online overview for Fall Ball.

Once gone, there will be no additional openings available, just wait lists unfortunately. Act now! Below is a summary of the leagues we offer and the roster spots still remaining as of August 2, 2021 at 9 a.m.

Register Your Ballplayer for the 2021 Fall Ball Season!

Make plans to participate in the tryouts for one of our full-time travel baseball and softball tryouts set for late July and early August.

OYO offers two types of travel programs for baseball and softball. Our teams sport the nicknames Bombers (baseball) and Red Storm (softball). For both baseball and softball, we offer rec travel teams and full-time travel teams.

Tryouts for the 2022 Full-Time Travel Oaklandon Bombers (baseball) and the 2022 Full-Time Travel Oaklandon Red Storm (softball) teams are being announced for most teams and additional teams will be announced in the near future.  All dates, times and field assignments are customized for each age group. Access to tryout dates/times, coach selections and related information for each age group appear below.

For tryouts, players are requested to meet the following criteria:

• All tryouts are scheduled to take place at Veterans Memorial Park, 12150 East 62nd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46236
• Arrive 30 minutes early
• Dressed for tryouts wearing appropriate baseball/softball attire
• Do not wear any clothing or hats affiliating you with any past travel team (exception: helmets with team logos are permitted)
• All schedules are subject to change, flexibility is requested

And, click here to learn more specific details about the 16U-Martin Red Storm tryouts.

Thank you for your interest and consideration in the 2022 OYO full-time travel program. For more information about these tryouts, please contact one of the following Travel Committee Members:

• Johnny Goldfinger | OYO Travel Baseball Commissioner
• Curtis Dillman | OYO Vice President, Travel Softball
• Brittany Anderson | OYO President

And, best of luck to all players participating in these tryouts. Go Red Storm. Go Bombers!

Greetings! Here’s a quick reminder about the fun, exciting double-elimination tournament for our older baseball and softball divisions. This is the time of year when the players hard work all pays off in a memorable and competitive game experience!

For the latest 2021 Spring Season Rec League Tournament brackets for Junior Baseball and 14U/16U Softball, this will serve as your ongoing source for latest news and information. All games will be played between June 28-July 1. Any cancellations due to rain will be played the following week (Week of July 5) at dates and times to be announced.

Tournament brackets are now available for:

• Junior Baseball
• 14U/16U Softball

During the tournament, all brackets from previous day/time will be posted here by 6 a.m. the next morning. Download your team’s bracket and continue you to chart your path forwardz

Thank you for choosing OYO as your place for baseball and softball!

Greetings! Following the rain cancellation this evening, we have had to revamp the tournament brackets to best accommodate all games, teams and umpire availability. For the revised 2021 Spring Season Rec League Tournament brackets, please reference the brackets below. Please note, the game schedulesin LeagueApps will not be updated until late Thursday afternoon. If you find any inconsistencies or believe the bracket updates are in error, please email your feedback to oyocommunications@gmail.com.

As stated before, all brackets from previous day/time will be posted here by 6 a.m. the next morning. Download your team’s bracket and continue you to chart your path forward!

Revised Division Brackets are now available as follows:

• 08U Softball
• 10U Softball
• 12U Softball
• Junior Rookie
• Rookie
• Minor 
• Super Major

Thank you for choosing OYO as your place for baseball and softball. And good luck to all our teams participating in this year’s tournament. Play Ball!