Amy Romano Field Hockey Scrimmage Canceled For 2020

ENFIELD, CT — For the second time since its inception in 2009, the Amy Romano Memorial Field Hockey Scrimmage will not be played this summer, this time due to circumstances and concerns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

The annual event, which attracts nearly two dozen high school field hockey teams from four New England states to Enfield High School, is traditionally played near the end of August. However, government restrictions in response to the pandemic forced cancellation of the spring high school schedule and has left the status of the upcoming fall season in question.

"I am so sad to say that the Amy Romano Scrimmage day will not run this fall," Enfield High School coach Amy Bartholomew said. "This is our most favorite time of the year, so it is with great hope that we will still get to have field hockey this fall. This event means so much and we look forward to it next year."

Team entrance fees and fan donations support the Amy Romano Memorial Scholarship, a $1,000 annual award to a deserving student-athlete from Enfield High School. The scholarship is administered by the Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame.

Romano, who in 1997 joined her dad Tony as the first father-daughter Hall of Fame duo in Enfield, was a standout multi-sport athlete at the former Enrico Fermi High School. She was an All-State selection in both field hockey and softball, compiling an 18-0 regular season record as a softball pitcher in her senior year.

She continued to play both sports at Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., earning All-Northeast Region honors three times in field hockey and compiling 40 collegiate wins in softball, including a no-hitter against Winthrop College. She was inducted into the Assumption Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001, and is also a member of the Connecticut Softball Hall of Fame.

Romano was an elementary school teacher, serving as head teacher at the former Thomas Alcorn School in Thompsonville. She also coached field hockey at her old high school in the early 2000s, and was a member of the Hall of Fame board of directors.

On Jan. 10, 2007, she passed away unexpectedly at age 40. Later that year, the Hall of Fame board established the memorial scholarship in her name, and the initial recipient was Erica Pyznar, who played for Romano at Fermi, then literally followed in her footsteps by playing field hockey at Assumption.

Pyznar and her mother, Marie, decided to try organizing a field hockey tournament in Romano’s memory. The Friends of Amy Romano Sports Committee was formed in 2009, and the inaugural event was celebrated late that summer. The only prior cancellation was due to Hurricane Irene in 2011.

In 2019, for the first time, a school from East Greenwich, R.I. played in the scrimmage, during which each team plays three 7-on-7 games on half-size turf fields and an 11-on-11 contest on a regulation-size grass field. Teams from Longmeadow and Minnechaug Regional high schools in Massachusetts participate regularly, while Keene, N.H. has been represented the past two seasons. Nine Connecticut schools from across the state played last year.

Organizers expect to host the scrimmage under more favorable conditions in 2021.

"It saddens me deeply but this will not mean the end of this awesome event. We will continue our mission next year," Marie Pyzner said.

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