10/27/2024
What a tournament! I'd like to start off by saying thank you to everyone that signed up to play. Without interest, we don't have a tournament. Thank you especially to Brian 'Tutty' Tutt, Ricky Spurlin, and John McDonough for umping all day. Thank you to all the people that came down in support of the players and tournament. It was a great day! Thanks to Tighe for a billion pictures!
I wanted to do something different this year and pay a little respect to a generation I grew up watching play. Thankfully we were able to make that happen yesterday. We only had 3 or 4 bats break all day, not bad using old school white blue dots! With 6 teams, we were able to give everyone 3 games for signing up. And of course we saw an 'IF' game in the finals. At the end of it, Cruise Control led by Aaron Denis came out the victors of Wally's Worlds. They earned the $500 cash prize. Aaron kept his entry fee back and donated to $200 profit back to the cause. They also won Wally's Worlds hoodies, thanks to Donyell Garcia of Big Dawg Apparel out of Connecticut. And finally, they got to raise the Wally Cup! The MVP this year was Mike Plentzas, who earned a pair of batting gloves, courtesy of Richie Laganierre of Ascend Athletics out of New York.
In true proper Wally's Worlds fashion, I like to make a donation to someone in need or some organization I feel changes people's lives. This year I chose both of those. A family friend of ours travels internationally to give free dental care to those in need. Thanks to Ali Carignan and her '1000 Smiles' staff, we are able to donate $475! The other donation will be $250 to Legacy Lane Farm out of Stratham, NH. They are a donation led farm offering educational functions and parties. They gave us a very hands-on birthday party for our young children and it was one of the best parties we've had yet.