I would like to respond to the Letter to the Editor, which was published in the Levittown Tribune on Oct. 7, regarding the article, "Island Trees 13-Year-Olds Named Champions But No Trophies for Their Win." I am hopeful that you will publish this letter in its entirety and without modification.

Plainedge Youth Baseball League is presently one of the premier baseball leagues on Long Island. PYBL provides organized youth baseball for over 700 children of the North Massapequa, North Seaford, Bethpage and Farmingdale areas covered under the Plainedge School District 18. PYBL is a Babe Ruth sanctioned league and adheres to all of the by-laws and requirements of Babe Ruth League. PYBL is a non-profit organization and adheres to all of the requirements to maintain our non-profit status. The backbone of Plainedge Youth Baseball League are the many volunteers, board members, managers, coaches, and parents who all donate their time and services to promote youth baseball in our community.

Normally, the story would end there. Unfortunately, when you run a large and successful organization you can fall victim to some people who wish ill will on your organization. We had been instructed by our legal counsel that it would be within our rights to rebut all of the malicious and intentionally distorted allegations by Mr. Dominick Mezapesa, the manager of the Island Trees 13-year-old baseball team.

I am happy to set the record straight for everyone in the community.

First distorted fact: Plainedge Youth Baseball League, Island Trees Baseball, Levittown North Baseball, Levittown South Wantagh Baseball, and Levittown Central Baseball agreed to conduct inter-league play for their senior divisions due to low registration numbers in their intramural programs. The inter-league play is not sanctioned by Babe Ruth Baseball. The purpose for the senior league was to provide children who did not make their school teams or selected to some of the travel teams an outlet to play baseball. These are kids who would not have a game to play if it were not for this inter-league environment. This inter-league setup is purely a courtesy league for the children of the community.

Second distorted fact: Mr. Mezapesa, as stated in his own editorial represents himself as an Island Trees 13-year old manager not a PYBL manager. Mr. Mezapesa has never paid any funds to Plainedge Youth Baseball League. Absolutely no compensation has been received from Mr. Mezapesa for any league fees nor did he pay his umpire fees or field fees to the PYBL League. Plainedge Youth Baseball League does not collect registration fees on behalf of other baseball organizations. As I said earlier, this is a courtesy league not a tournament league.

Third distorted fact: Experienced managers know that when their teams join a league they must buy their own baseballs and their own uniforms, if they are not supplied by their sanctioning organization. In this particular case Mr. Mezapesa would need to speak to his sanctioning organization, as we are not familiar with how their organization runs. Regarding the issuance of "crappy" uniforms they would need to discuss that with his sanctioning organization. Plainedge Youth Baseball does not provide uniforms for other baseball leagues for their teams.

Fourth distorted fact: Plainedge Youth Baseball League is a non-profit organization and is not designed to receive huge financial windfalls from the community. Each baseball organization participating in this inter-league play is required to pay their share of all umpire fees that represent most of the shared expenditures. There are two umpires for all senior league games at $55 per umpire per game ($110 per game) organized through Long Island Approved Umpire Association. There were 7 teams in the 13-year-old division of which two were Plainedge teams. None of those teams were involved with Mr. Mezapesa or his players other than during a game as competitors. The umpire fees associated with this division alone were $9,900 not $2,000 like Mr. Mezapesa stated (7 teams x 12 games plus 6 playoff games x $110 = $9,900). As a courtesy to the other participating leagues, Plainedge Youth Baseball League schedules all umpires and collects the fees from the participating leagues. According to Mr. Mezapesa's registration calculations, they do not even cover the umpire fees associated with running this division.

Fifth distorted fact: As president of Plainedge Youth Baseball League I am appalled and offended by the statements of Mr. Mezapesa "that youth baseball today has been swallowed up and spit out by a bunch of crooks." The fact of the matter is that we (myself and my 100 percent volunteer board of directors) have worked very hard and put in countless hours for more than three months and to help a few kids who would not get a chance to play ball if it were not for this inter-league play. I think Mr. Mezapesa got the wrong idea about this senior league. It wasn't about becoming a champion; it was about teaching the game and having fun.

In closing, I think Mr. Mezapesa is seriously misguided as to his motivation for managing a youth baseball team. Dominick's letter continually requests some method of recognition perhaps a trophy, perhaps a medal, a blurb on his sponsoring organization's website. Perhaps Dominck needs to make those requests directly to Island Trees. Plainedge Youth Organization did provide T-shirts and a pizza party to the two senior league teams that we sponsored in that division.

As president of Plainedge Youth Baseball League, I feel sorry for individuals like Dominick Mezapesa because they have lost site of the objectives and reasons for coaching a youth baseball team. I will share with you the Plainedge Mission Statement: "Our mission shall be to implant firmly in the youth of our community the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, loyalty, courage and respect for authority and each other so that they may be well-adjusted, stronger and happier youth and will grow to be good, decent, healthy and trustworthy citizens." At no point are the words champion or winning mentioned.

Mike Parise

President, Plainedge Youth Baseball League