Manchester Softball Tournament Saturday Aids Little League Family

About 200 softball and whiffle ball players and their families are expected to be in attendance Saturday at the Melissa Beth Hughes Memorial Softball Tournament, going on at the Manchester Little League complex.

The tournament is a fundraiser for the family of Melissa Hughes, who died in late July. She and her husband, Michael, were heavily involved in Little League, where Michael is a coach and their son, Connor, plays. Daughter Taryn is a karate student.

The event includes a 50/50, raffles and gift baskets, including super baskets with an IPad, a basket with 22 bottles of wine, a signed Todd Frazier baseball and a training package from the Toms River Sports Academy.

Buster from the Lakewood BlueClaws is expected to make an appearance in the afternoon, organizers said.

There is food for sale and T-shirts, and the proceeds go to the Hughes family.

“Each year Manchester Little League tries to find a family from within the community that either has lost a loved one that was a huge part of our MLL family, or is ill with mounting medical bills,” said Dennis Hice, the league’s secretary. The event also is sponsored by the Manchester PBA.

“Melissa was a huge part part of our Little League community who enjoyed coming to watch her son Connor’s baseball games,” he said. “She always had a smile on her face whenever I saw her at the complex and always took a moment to say hello.”

Melissa, 48, was a licensed practical nurse and worked for various hospice agencies and was a medical coder for Ocean Orthopedics Association in Toms River for 12 years, Michael said, but she “always made time, while I was at work, to get our son to practices and games,” he said. “Family came first. She always was excited to watch him grow as a player. Just like when she took our daughter, Taryn, to karate and watched her achieve new belts.”

The complex is at 2425 Ridgeway Road, not far from Manchester Middle School.