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With the little league baseball season almost half over, Catholic Youth Organization coaches and officials are in the midst of an ongoing conflict over scheduling of games, lack of umpires and the general dissatisfaction that has gripped the league covering Parishes in Brooklyn and Queens.
Controversy and acrimony over the stalled baseball season has spread over the 30 Catholic Schools in Queens to the point a meeting was called Monday night.

The meeting, held at St. Mel’s in Flushing, lasted more than two hours with parents and coaches involved venting their frustration over what many see as a lost spring of baseball.
Complaints ranged as those in attendance have been critical of CYO for bungling away the baseball season.

According to Joe Catanello, Executive Director of CYO activities for Brooklyn and Queens, the mood was “frustrated and angry” as many in attendance pointed to lack of officiating, incompetent permit allocation and incomplete scheduling of games as reasons for their unhappiness.
These critics claim that after a two-decade leadership group was fired in the winter, incompetent officials took over and mucked things up to the point of paralysis.

Indications from Catanello, who began working in January, were that the old leadership group, headed by Savino Fazzolari was terminated in the process of restructuring on the fly, with negative results for kids involved in athletic activities.

Kids can begin participating in CYO-based athletics in third grade. There are five divisions in baseball from pee-wee to intermediate. Coaches and officials at parishes that support the sports throughout the borough are all volunteers.
Catanello said that the previous leadership was unreachable, aloof and provincial – thus prompting their dismissal.
“They ran it like the Sopranos,” he said by telephone.
St. Kevin’s Athletic Director Michael Cawley feels the new group has not done enough to keep officials like himself informed, and has operated with ineptitude.

Discussing the baseball season Cawley was extremely critical of Catanello and the new leadership. “In a nutshell they dropped the ball,” Cawley said. “The whole thing has been a disaster from the beginning.”

Cawley, along with St Kevin’s fifth grade coach John Bonanno, feels the new leadership has done a disservice to borough youth by mismanaging the season.

He has coached youth baseball in the CYO league for seven years and is frustrated.

“They have no idea of any logistics, it’s a shame, they should be embarrassed,” he said.

Specific complaints from Cawley and Bonanno include no complete schedule being released, improper fielding permits handed down and no umpires in attendance at many games. Bonanno also feels Catanello’s actions have shown a lack of concern for the season and the young players involved.
Catanello says this is untrue, and he has tried his hardest to make the season a success. He blames lack of training, a rigid bureaucracy and no help from the former leadership for the current situation. All the years of knowledge and a computer scheduling system went with the Fazzolari group when he and his lieutenants were fired.

He claims to be unsupported in his efforts to coordinate CYO sports and arrived at his new job alone, charged with the massive effort of coordinating the entire baseball season. “I was here by myself,” he said. “We had to do everything by hand and we messed up a bit.”

About the baseball season and current conflict Catanello said, “it’s been a problem, we messed up.”
Catanello admits mismanagement, but also feels he was put in “an extremely difficult situation,” where smooth-runnings were unrealistic.

He also feels detractors have jumped on his case, making a difficult situation worse. “It’s a shame that they are jumping on it during the restructuring process,” he said.
To prevent this from occurring again, Catanello is taking measures that include forming a CYO advisory board, new programs with St John’s University and outreach to unhappy communities.