February 28 2003
 East End Expos' Joseph George foul tips this ball before lining a triple in his team's victory over the Pirates Softball Association president, secretary attending congress in Guatemala BY DEAN GREENAWAY BVI Amateur Softball Association president Neville "Sheep" Smith and secretary Juliette Penn are attending a Confederation of Pan American Softball Associations (COMPASA) and Confederation of Caribbean and Central American Softball Associations (CONCACAS) congress in Guatemala City, Guatemala that wraps up this weekend. It is the first meeting for Smith who was elected on Oct. 30. "I'm going to be asking questions of the people I meet about helping us especially with pitching. That's one of the main problems in the BVI," Smith said. His plan was to also look into obtaining assistance in starting a junior league. Prior to his departure, Smith was disappointed that not many rosters were collected after his association extended the league registration deadline to Feb. 19, and rescheduled the league opener to March 28, after work began on the Old Recreation Grounds last week to improve the facility. "Only one person actually brought a roster for his new team the Apaches," Smith said. "In fact, no body showed up to the meeting, just the executive committee members were there. This however puts us in a bad spot. I don't know where the interest of the players lies. All the time they have been laying blame, but as I've been saying from the beginning, it's the players themselves that have to come out and try to make the league successful before anyone else can help." During their first meeting, only three rosters were collected from the Quails, Hawks and Blue Chips. The association has since received rosters from the Byrds and the Braves. "No managers even showed for the meeting," Smith noted. "We were trying to draft our schedule even though the league has been pushed back we expected to have the rosters in so that we can see how long the league will run." Fences around the backstop and dugouts and one of the stands at the Old Recreation Grounds were removed last week. Smith had been saying that the league would not open until bathrooms were in place. He anticipates work will be completed by March 28. "We are looking for the work to be finished by then, and I'm hoping it's finished by then," Smith said. "Once the bathrooms are up the league will open."
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