It’s almost time for the Syosset Little League to play ball.
The 2025 season will kick off on March 29, catering to approximately 1,000 children ages 3 to 17.
The Syosset Little League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “promote, develop, supervise, and voluntarily assist in all lawful ways, the interest of those who will participate in Little League Baseball.”
All members of the board and coaches of Syosset Little League are volunteers.
Executive Board President Bradley Schnur said he volunteered to “give back to my community and also do something that my children were involved in, to be more involved in a program and see them and their growth through the years by playing baseball.”
The league offers between 80 and 90 teams across baseball, softball, and travel baseball. Athletes on the baseball and softball teams work toward the Williamsport tournament, the Little League version of the World Series. The travel baseball team competes against other towns on the island where they may also participate in tournaments either out of the area, or out of state.
The league also offers an in-house umpire program called Team Blue. Starting from seventh grade, teens can train with professional umpires, such as board secretary Adam Weinstein. The program aims to teach children the skills needed to make important calls during the game and gain the confidence to keep the game running smoothly.
The Syosset Baseball Association also awards scholarships for Syosset High School students that have played baseball or softball with Syosset little league.
“We have three to four scholarships that we provide to graduating seniors who have made a difference in the community, who have played baseball or softball through our program and have gone on to play through the school,” said Schnur.
Syosset Little League teams spend most practices at Syosset-Woodbury Park and Stillwell Woods Park. Both have been announced to experience major upgrades, with Syosset-Woodbury Park almost completed.
In 2023, Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino and Councilwoman Laura Maier announced that the town would fully convert the natural grass fields at Syosset-Woodbury Park to synthetic turf, allowing for increased playtime for local teams.
“It will allow us to be able to play games more often and not have to worry about the weather interfering with games and scheduling. It just makes the park a fresh place,” Schnur said.
In 2024, the Town of Oyster Bay also announced that Stillwell Park would receive $12 million in upgrades and would be transferred to the control of the Town of Oyster Bay. The transfer was approved by Nassau County Legislature, and now depends on bond authorization for the plan to move forward.
“We put in our own money and our own resources to keep up the landscaping, the field prep on the weekends. But now with the town taking over… we’re going to be able to hopefully give our input as to how to make further improvements to the fields,” Schnur said.
Schnur also saidthe league wouldn’t be possible without its sponsors.
“Sponsors are very important to us because that helps us be able to go out and purchase equipment, do special events,” he said. “It just helps supplement some of the expenses that we have, while also giving them the ability to promote their products or service within the community.”
For more information on Syosset Little League, visit their website.
