In Chinle, baseball slides back into home

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series featuring the Chinle Youth Baseball League.

CHINLE

With no one willing to step up to the plate the Chinle Youth Baseball League closed shop last year.

It left hundreds of kids looking for other things to do, said Carmelita Yazzie, a lifelong resident of Chinle.

“My son has been with the league since he was six years old and when it got cancelled he got frustrated,” she said.

Yazzie said some of the kids who were part of the CYBL stayed home and played pickup games while the league was on hiatus. But a small few managed to play in other baseball leagues, some as far away as Shiprock and Farmington. Her son, Garrett Yazzie, was one of those players who was lucky enough to join one of those teams.

“When they first cancelled (the league) I threw around with my sister at home,” Garrett Yazzie said, noting that it wasn’t the same as being involved with an organized baseball league.

Thanks to a handful of people the CYBL was revived this past spring. Under the direction of board President Myron Haskie the CYBL has approximately 200 kids participating from T-ball to a 12U division.

“This league started 10 years ago and it went really smoothly until last year,” Haskie said. “The former president worked out of town and there was nobody to take it over.”

Having been affiliated with the league for six years as a coach, Haskie was asked by a community member if he could bring the league back, and after many meetings with people within his circle, it happened.

“This gives the kids something to do over the summer,” he said. “It keeps them out of trouble and they stay active. We don’t have as many kids as we did in previous years but we’re picking it back up.”

The other board members are Vice President Tasha Bitsui, Secretary Arayah Mitchell and Treasurer Natasha Davis. Robert Guy, Erica Johnson and Lester Nez served as advisory members.
“We help in planning and developing the league,” Nez said.

As one of the coaches, Nez said reviving this league helps in player development.

“You can see the difference, especially at the high school level,” he said. “This is my third group that I’m coaching and my second group went to state every year in high school.”

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