SCIBOSTON’S "24" LEGACY WIFFLEBALL TOURNAMENT
“24” Legacy Wiffleball Tournament raises over $45,000!
BW Supers from Brookline, MA beat the Buckners from Burlington, VT to win the team championship at the Little Fenway complex in Jericho VT to conclude a wet, exciting “24” Legacy Wiffleball Tournament. Over $45,000 was raised to benefit the Travis Roy Legacy Grant Program which will provide grants for durable medical equipment and vehicle modifications to spinal cord injured individuals.
There were 8 teams participating, with two affiliated with SCIboston: the Pain in the Necks and the SCIboston team.
The Pain in the Necks (NH), coached by Josh Keller, was a crowd favorite and rebounded from being routed in their first game 14-0 to winning their next two games in stunning fashion. Josh must have made some adjustments and a rousing pep talk to rally his team. They entered the playoffs the #3 seed, but ran into a hot Buckners team and were eliminated.
The SCIboston team (MA) went winless in the round robin but almost upset the #1 seed, the Bad Larry’s (MA) in the playoffs. SCIboston was up 3-2 with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the last inning, but Bad Larry’s Dave Spidle smacked a two-run homer over the Green Monster to win the game and break the hearts of the SCIboston team.
The event was delayed by an hour due to rain, but the grounds crew of Larry Riegert, Tim and Ron Rose did a tremendous job getting Little Fenway, Little Wrigley and Field of Dreams ready to play on. It was very slippery on the basepaths and most players were covered in mud by the end of the day.
Joel Kynoch provided entertaining commentary as the announcer on Little Fenway and Dan Pion helped manage the event and keep things on schedule.
BW Supers’ ageless Pete Grimes showed that good pitching is the key to win in this tournament as they won their first title after finishing second last year.
The Pain in the Necks, SCIboston and the Bad News Bears (MA) were first time teams and learned a lot about what it takes to win. There were 5 veteran teams including BW Supers, Buckners, Bad Larry’s, Miami Vice (VT) and the Curse (VT). The veteran teams all played well.
The BW Supers were the leading fundraising team and Jacob Gurdin was the leading individual fundraiser, so it was a “Triple Crown” sweep of honors for the BW Supers.
The tournament has been held since 2002 under the leadership of the Travis Roy Foundation. Both Brenda and Lee Roy attended the event. Lee Roy, Travis’ father spoke at the Welcome Ceremony and provided a heartfelt tribute to all those who have played in the past and encouraged all that were in attendance to have FUN to honor Travis’ intention for the event.
SCIboston is honored to support this event and the Travis Roy Legacy Grant Program to improve the quality of life for those with spinal cord injuries for years to come.
Thank you to all who donated, played, umped, announced and prepared the fields.
Donate to the Travis Roy Legacy Grant Program HERE!
