Hanningtons solid at Sandy Hook tourney

On the weekend of April 13 and 14, Hanningtons of the Canton Men’s Softball League traveled to Wallingford, Connecticut, to play in a 16-team charity tournament, with all proceeds going toward the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.

The reigning Canton Men’s Softball League champions, Hanningtons finished 20-1 last season and went on to win the seventh game of an exciting championship series versus Halfway Cafe. Although Hanningtons came out strong at the Sandy Hook tournament, beating a local Connecticut team called “Trail of Terror” 18-0 by the slaughter rule, they struggled to get the bats going early in their next game against Brockton-based Southfield, the only other Massachusetts representative, and suffered a 14-11 loss.

In the third and final game of pool play, Hanningtons faced the host team, the Neils of the Wallingford Men’s Softball League. The game was back and forth throughout; however, Hanningtons’ bats and strong defense proved too much for the Neils to handle as the Canton boys came out on top 22-16, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Although manager Greg Lyons gave his players a 9 p.m. curfew on Saturday night, unfortunately it would not be enough to wake the bats up in Hanningtons’ early morning quarterfinals matchup against another Connecticut team, the Mashers, who held on to win the game 8-7, thus eliminating Hanningtons from title contention. The Mashers would go on to win the tournament, beating Southfield in the finals.

“All in all, it was a great weekend that was all for an even greater cause,” said Lyons. “As manager, I would like to thank Glen Hannington for helping to fund/sponsor us to go down there as well as everyone who helped make this tournament happen, specifically Jim Russo, the tournament director. The final amount of money raised on the weekend for the victims was right at $8,000.”

Among the top hitters for Hanningtons in the tournament were Marc Alberts (10 for 13 with four homeruns), Bill Murray (12 for 16 with three homeruns), and Chris Bell (7 for 11).

In other men’s softball news:

On Saturday, April 27, the Canton Men’s Softball League hosted its annual Preseason Tournament at Messinger and Devoll fields, and Hanningtons repeated as champions, going 4-0 and winning every game by 13 or more runs.

Hanningtons opened by beating Canton Junction 22-2 and then went on to beat Halfway Cafe 17-3 in a rematch of last season’s finals. In the third game, Hanningtons cruised past Turnpike Cafe/Matthew’s Law 19-4 to reach the finals, where they once again dominated Canton Junction 17-4 to claim the tournament championship.

All of the proceeds from the tournament went to Jay Metzger, a former Hanningtons player who is battling a life-threatening disease. Best wishes go out to Jay and the entire Metzger family.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on May 9 2013. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.