Earl Conzatti to be Honored at Centralia Little League Opening Ceremony

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For the past two years, Centralia Little League has been trying to honor former coach and player Earl Conzatti and his family for their contributions to the league during its first 12 years of existence.

And for the past two seasons, the COVID-19 pandemic has halted those plans. Finally, Conzatti will be honored during opening day ceremonies at 9 a.m., Saturday, March 26, at Dick Scott Field in Centralia.

Unfortunately, the ceremony will come a bit late as Earl passed away on Jan. 18, 2022. Now, instead of Earl throwing out the first pitch on Saturday, it will now be his brothers John and Clark — as the fourth brother, Paul, passed away in 2002.

“We were hoping to honor Earl while he was still living, but it didn’t happen,” said Don LeBaron Jr., who is a former longtime coach and board member for Centralia Little League. “It just seemed like the right thing to do in view of the fact that the Conzatti family was so influential.

The Centralia Little League was formed in 1951 when Dick Scott ran a notice in The Chronicle looking for kids interested in playing baseball. About 50 kids responded.



Earl and Paul Conzatti were among those kids who responded — Earl was 11 years old and Paul was 9 — and they joined the inaugural team in 1952. Two years later, the Majors All-star Team would put Centralia Little League on the map, winning the state championship before finishing third at regionals — the closest any Centralia team has been to qualifying for the Little League World Series.

Paul was one of the stars on the team, smashing nine home runs in 18 at-bats during the tournament. The team helped jumpstart Centralia Little League, which would go on to produce two MLB players in Bob Coluccio and Lyle Overbay.

Though Paul received a lot of the accolades, Earl was a gifted pitcher, LeBaron said, and came back to coach in the league for 11 seasons in the 1970s and 1980s.

Now, LeBaron will be introducing Earl and his wife Neva’s children — Kristin, Catherine, David and Mary Frances — during the ceremony on Saturday.

“I will be introducing the children and recognizing Earl, and trying not to overshadow Earl with the exploits of Paul — because the ‘54 team really put the baseball community of Centralia on the map,” LeBaron said.