Franklin Dixie Youth holds Opening Day Ceremonies

The 2014 Opening Ceremonies for the Franklin Dixie Youth Baseball Organization included prayer, a plaque of recognition, Ceremonial First Pitches, introduction of Board Members ,the FSHS Color Guard along with the National Anthem and the first day tournament Saturday here at Caffery Park.
While the members of all the teams and coaches lined the Caffery Park Field, the 2014 Franklin Dixie Youth Baseball League Opening Day Ceremonies began with emcee Jimmie Daniel calling on Father Lloyd Benoit, who offered a heartfelt opening prayer.
Franklin Dixie Youth President Paul Frost recognized the Cabot Corporation for 30 years of support with a special plaque presented to Cindy Pusateri of the Cabot Corporation and the Cabot Dixie Youth Baseball team.
Franklin Dixie Youth offered thanks to Mayor Raymond Harris, St. Mary Parish David Hanagriff and the St. Mary Parish Council for their support of the back fields project.
Franklin Dixie Youth President Paul Frost noted that the project was a success with the help of local businesses Tyler Brothers, PCM, First National Bank of Jeanerette and the Franklin Dixie Youth Baseball Board of Directors.
Daniel noted that sixty-thousand dollars was spent in redoing the back fields , a new Wiffle Ball Field and the big field were redone to bring back the 13-14-15 year old boys back to Franklin and that the Franklin Dixie Youth Baseball board are excited about the opportunity for the youngsters to play in Franklin because they haven’t had a place to play in Franklin in five years.
It was also announced that Franklin will host the Dixie Youth Regional Tournament for 10s and 12s on July 18-22 which is the largest tournament for Dixie Youth of which Franklin is happy to be hosting.
Saturday’s Opening Day Ceremonies continued with the introduction of Franklin Dixie Youth Board Members. They included: Hilda Frost, Angelle Vice, Angela Louviere, Melinda Presley, Scott Martin, Brandon Gaspard, Teddy Deslatte, Morty Fredrick, Eric Clements, Jimmy Daniel, Randy Paul , Paul Frost and all past board members.
The Ceremonial “First Pitches”were tossed out by local politicians on hand including Mayor Raymond Harris; St. Mary Parish President Paul Naquin; City Councilmembers Chuck Autin; Dale Rogers; Eugene Foulcard; Lester Levine along with City Marshall David McCoy and St. Mary Parish Council member David Hanagriff.
Franklin Senior High School Color Guard brought the Opening Day Ceremonies to an end with the Presentation of Colors prior to a recorded rendition of the National Anthem.