The Mineola School District announced they added a seventh grade baseball team so that beginning this upcoming baseball season, there will be a seventh grade team and an eighth grade team in addition to a junior varsity and varsity team at the high school.

There was originally a combined seventh and eighth grade team before the decision was made to make a separate seventh and eighth grade team for the spring season.

Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics Ralph Amitrano. said the reason to add a seventh grade team was to give the kids in the middle school more of an opportunity to play. "With one team, you only have 18 openings. We had a lot of kids coming out in previous years and I know a lot of people are happy that more kids will get the opportunity to play baseball and hopefully stick with it through high school," he added.

Giving more students the opportunity to play baseball will also enable more students to try an interscholastic sport to see if it piques their interest.

Amitrano anticipates that the 7th and 8th grade teams will play games at Mineola Middle School. The district has also obtained a permit to practice at Wilson Park for three days a week from April to the beginning of June. Amitrano said he does not see any conflict with having four teams. "With the additional field at Willis Park, it alleviates the problem of two teams on one field for a long period of time at the middle school and up at the high school, we've worked it out already with the junior varsity and varsity team splitting space," he said.

Amitrano said he put a posting out for a coach, but does have one in mind. The first day of tryouts is expected to be April 8. "We really needed [another team] just to bolster the program and add more opportunity for kids at the middle school."