Big Hello to Deaf New Englanders,
Photos
The NEAAD Slo-Pitch Softball tournament was held in South Windsor, Ct.
hosted by Hartford Club of the Deaf during the weekend of July 17-18.
Brendan Ward was the chairperson. He and his committee really worked
hard to make the tournament to go as smooth as possible.
The tournament itself was one of the best I ever saw in a long time.
First, the weather was not very cooperative in the early morning but
eventually it stopped raining around nine in the morning. The Hartford
committee had to clear the water inside the park. Then, there was a
Round robin tournament to determine the seeding for the double elimination
games in the afternoon. Metro-West was chosen to be number one, Hartford two,
North Shore three and Holyoke four, respectively.
In the open round, Metro-West played against Holyoke and they won the game
by the score of 14 to 2 while Hartford won the 30-0 game over North Shore.
In the loser's bracket, Holyoke was victorious over North Shore
with the score of 24 to 1. Metro-West played their rival Hartford in the
next round.
In the beginning Hartford led with the score of 6-1 but the
lead soon evaporated as the Minutemen rallied to lead the game, 12 to 8 in
the fifth inning. In the sixth inning Hartford began to catch up the lead
by Metro-West, 13 to 11. In the final inning, the picture changed as
Hartford finally rallied to a 15-13 victory over Metro-West.
Now Metro-West had to play against Holyoke. Metro-West led most
the the game until Holyoke stormed back to tie the game with the score
of 20-20 at the top of the seventh inning. At the bottom of the final
inning, Metro-West had a triumphant victory of 21-20 over Holyoke.
During the championship game, rivals Hartford and Metro-West once again played
each other. If Hartford lost this game, then both would have to play
one more game. Both teams were tied 4-4 in the fourth inning but Metro-West
finally broke the tie with the score of 8 to 5 over Hartford in the sixth
inning.
At the bottom of the seventh inning, Testone of Hartford got on
the first base with a hit and then Cipriano walked. Berrigan looked at the
pitch and was struck out. Larson hit a high fly and was out. Vazquez
walked to load the full bases with two outs. Rivera, who was frustrated
with six walks in his last eight battings, hit afoul ball out of the fence.
He was ready for the next pitch which he hit hard into left field and the
ball flew over the left fielder's head. Rivera ran around the
bases while the left fielder picked up the ball and fired it toward the
shortstop player who also fired it to the catcher at the home plate.
He slid and was safe with a grand slam home run.
The game was over with a victory for Hartford over Metro-West by 9 to 8.
Hartford won its twenty-seventh championship. That is one of three best
championship games I have witnessed during the NEAAD Softball Tournament
since 1968 when my deaf dad took me to the tournament hosted by Thames
Valley of New London, Ct.
Also, each last three games during the final inning was won by one or two runs. It was really an exciting tournament!!!
The result of double elimination tournament:
Metro-West 14 Holyoke 2
Hartford 30 North Shore 0
Holyoke 24 North Shore 1
Hartford 15 Metro-West 13
Metro-West 21 Holyoke 20
Hartford 9 Metro-West 8
Hartford-Championship
Metro-West-Runner-up
Holyoke-Third Place
North Shore-Fourth Place
All Tourney Players were
- Chorlton, Slate and Skwersky of Metro-West
- Beston and Garnetto of Holyoke,
- Patrowicz and Bennett of North Shore
- Berrigan, Ward and Zeplin of Hartford
The Gold Glove Award went to Donatello of Metro-West.
The Coach of the Tournament was awarded to co-coaches Ward and Rivera of Hartford.
North Shore got a Sportsmanship trophy.
MVP clearly went to Rivera of Hartford.
The NEAAD officers would like to express our thankfulness to Chairperson Ward and his hard working committee.
Three top teams planned to attend NSAD tournament in Florida next month and hopefully, they will bring more good news to all deaf New Englanders!
NEAADly,
Dennis T. Palka, NEAAD Sports Director
