Hamilton-Wenham Little League officially wrapped its 2017 season with their annual banquet held Sunday night at the American Legion. “This is a great tradition we have to recognize the graduating Little League and Softball players,” said HWLL President Phil Monahan. “HWLL is a volunteer organization and we are fortunate to have a tremendous community of players, coaches, sponsors, volunteers and parents that make our baseball league one of the best in Massachusetts. The season ending banquet salutes those players who are moving on. Some of these players started at age 4 and are with us for 8-9 years. We recognize them, thank them and say good bye. For many, unfortunately, this is the end of their official baseball/softball careers. They don’t go on to play in Babe Ruth or in High School. We also announced Eli Labell as the 2017 William Whelan award recipient. Eli embodies the award in all categories – he shows great sportsmanship, leadership, team play and respect for the game. This is a great honor as it’s an award selected by the players. Eli will be missed in HWLL,” concluded Monahan.
The league has 8 different divisions with over 400 players. The Little League spring season ended Father’s Day weekend with the Marlins defeating the Diamondbacks in the Minor League Division. In the senior Major League, the Nationals defeated the Red Sox. “This year, we introduced a 3 game Championship series for the Major League division and the teams did not disappoint with an exciting game 3 that ended with an 8-5 Nats win. It was a lot fun!” The Softball league is different in that the teams travel to other communities during the regular season. Both the Senior Blue team and Junior team qualified for the County playoffs, but their runs ended early with losses. “Our program is very young, but is recognized throughout the county,” Monahan added. “We encourage any girl 3rd through 8th grade to sign up and give it a shot; I’m confident they will have a lot of fun and learn a great game.”
HWLL will have their annual community meeting on September 28th at the Community House (7-8pm). The annual meeting invites all members of the H-W community to join us to review the 2017 year, briefly preview the 2018 season and elect the 2018 Board of Directors. “In addition to saying good-bye to our graduating players, we also say good-bye to 3 board members: Augie MacCurrach (13 years), Len Dolan (10 years) and John Cusolito (7 years). Their service to HWLL and Hamilton-Wenham Youth sports is admirable and unparalleled. Thank you, Gentlemen!” added Monahan. If you are interested in being on the board, please contact Phil Monahan at philjmonahan@gmail.com.
