11th Annual Vermont Summer Classic Breaks Records, Warms Hearts

On August 12-14, SLAMT1D hosted its 11th (and first weekend-long) Vermont Summer Classic WIFFLE Ball Tournament at Little Fenway in Essex, Vermont. Nineteen teams comprised of players from parts near and far descended on the iconic setting for two and a half days of competitive wiffle ball, renewing friendships and broadening awareness of what life is like for those living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D). Weekend attendance broke 1,500 in what a mom of a young T1Der described as “One Big Hug!”

Teams in the Vermont Summer Classic fundraised throughout the year to bolster their pre-tournament “PowerRankings” and then, when the opening pitch was tossed, everyone’s focus turned toward playing wiffle ball, winning games and hoisting a championship trophy on Sunday. Sixteen teams made the playoffs on Championship Sunday, twelve through qualifying and four via wild card lottery.

Twelve years ago the first version of the Vermont Summer Classic was held. Ten teams raised $9,470. This year, nineteen teams shattered the quarter million dollar goal by raising $262,771! Five teams raised over $9,000 each! 1,226 donations were made! While Fred Molak and The Gluebags were the top fundraising team at $83,359 and Randy Booth’s Red, White & Brew had 351 donors (amazing!), every team put forth tremendous effort and creativity in fundraising. Teams sold lottery tickets and program ads, the Dugout Dawgs held cornhole and golf tournaments, swear jars sat on office desks, companies matched employee fundraising or sponsored teams, families and friends were hounded at summer barbeques and gatherings, Lions Clubs pounced and a guy named Mojo just did the thing he does! It was a TOGETHER accomplishment! 

Volunteers Help Make Little Fenway Magic Happen

Jack and Rob Play-by-play announcing and scoring

Each year scores of people volunteer their time and effort to ensure the Vermont Summer Classic at Little Fenway is always a time of comfort, fun, sportsmanlike competition, joy, friendship and family. The responsibilities as new owners of Little Fenway added some complexity and breadth to their checklists. Our volunteer team met and exceeded that challenge yet again! Seasoned do-everything veterans Dan Pion and Larry Riegert did, well, it seems like everything! From coordinating tournament schedules, rules and team fundraising to transplanting corn stalks and assembling umpire rosters, Dan and Larry made the Energizer Bunny look more like Eeyore.  This year we welcomed Jon Milazzo to our volunteer crew. In fact, we asked him to manage the team. He did a remarkable job! There are too many people to thank by name here in this article: you know who you are and we all know you are and what you’ve done for us: THANK YOU!

Each year scores of people volunteer their time and effort to ensure the Vermont Summer Classic at Little Fenway is always a time of comfort, fun, sportsmanlike competition, joy, friendship and family. The responsibilities as new owners of Little Fenway added some complexity and breadth to their checklists. Our volunteer team met and exceeded that challenge yet again! Seasoned do-everything veterans Dan Pion and Larry Riegert did, well, it seems like everything! From coordinating tournament schedules, rules and team fundraising to transplanting corn stalks and assembling umpire rosters, Dan and Larry made the Energizer Bunny look more like Eeyore.  This year we welcomed Jon Milazzo to our volunteer crew. In fact, we asked him to manage the team. He did a remarkable job! There are too many people to thank by name here in this article: you know who you are and we all know you are and what you’ve done for us: THANK YOU!

The Tournament

Teams played first round games Friday evening: there were some surprises and eye-openers among several tough match-ups. The Electric City Hitmen, a new entrant from Schenectady, NY, blanked perennial powerhouse O’Farrell’s GOATs 5-0 while Jimmy Coles’ The AWAA (The Kamikazees) outlasted Dan French’s two-time champion Green Monsters in a 10-5, eight home run slugfest. In the last game of the evening at Little Field of Dreams, the Mount Mansfield Boys Basketball Team surprised many with a gutsy performance against last year’s semifinalists Red, White & Brew. RWB prevailed 4-2 with a game-ending double play in the top bracket of the 7th inning. 

The final qualifying round on Saturday provided two games for every team to garner big slugs of PowerRanking points with W’s. A late-morning match-up between last year’s championship game finalists, The Gluebags and Red, White & Brew, promised to be a close game. They didn’t disappoint. K’s were all over the place, and when pitchers Booth and Cram weren’t making batters swat at little nothings, their defenses made clutch play after clutch play. Devin Bush, Shannon “Flo” Nightingale and Billy DeMarino went bing, bang, boom in the top of the 6th to punch one across the plate for a 1-0 lead. The Gluebags loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th, but the RWB defense shut the door on the Gluebags comeback call. Many expected to see both teams back at each other deep in the playoffs. 

While Cory Knowles’ Dugout Dawgs nearly picked up their first tournament win against Hawkins Bay, Hallam-ICS lost two one-run games that showed other teams they’d be a tough out if selected in the wild card lottery. Saturday’s midday games that followed Opening Ceremonies offered a look-see into playoff possibilities while the rivalry between the Mount Mansfield Boys Basketball Team and Mount Mansfield Girls Basketball Team was tight…for the first inning. The MMU Girls once again topped the MMU Boys in fundraising, perhaps revving the Boys’ bats. After a scoreless first inning, the Boys shellacked the Girls’ pitcher Jason Wheel, torching him for eight runs in a 11-1 runaway that gave the Boys a 2-0 record versus the Girls in this budding territorial rivalry. Meanwhile, the Green Monsters started mashing home runs all over the place and as ace Dan French saved his wide array of pitches for the playoffs. O’Farrell’s GOATs, RW&B, AWAA and newcomer Electric City Hitmen started flexing playoff muscle. Electric City looked like the team-to-beat after winning their first two games of the tournament by a combined score of 18-0. Then on Saturday afternoon with the corn stalks of Little Field of Dreams as the backdrop, the Weekend Wifflers bombed them with eight home runs in a 11-8 win that locked up a playoff spot for the Wifflers. 

The Bat Attitudes went 2-1 in tournament play, securing a playoff spot but deeply missing the high energy of their stalwart Krista Jones, who wasn’t able to make the trip from Florida this year.  Da Bulls rolled into the tournament with expectations of setting records in their eleventh year. Fundraising? Yes, indeed (awesome)! Runs scored? Um, next one. Runs against? Uh..um…well, a record was set and their opponents feasted on Steve Adams’ meatballs! SB Wiffle marched to a 3-0 record and promised stiff playoff competition as a wild card lottery team in their first year. We expect they’ll be a tough match-up for everyone in 2023. The Plastic Pokers were first-year team in the Classic. They drew a tough schedule, but Brendan Corey’s team is expecting bigger things in 2023. The JCAT Griffins also competed for the first time, and although they didn’t pick up a win they showed grit especially in a 2-1 loss to the Lions Club Striders. Ah, the Striders. After a robust recruiting year, Jesse Gillette’s Lions Club Striders came to play. After a 2-1 loss on Opening Day to SB Wiffle, they rebounded with two consecutive wins, sneaking by a pesky JCAT Griffins team and capped by a solid 8-5 defeat of the Breaking Ballers at Little Wrigley.  

Qualifying play wrapped up Saturday afternoon. The Home Run Derby preceded the Wild Card Lottery Draw, with all teams pitting their best home run hitters against one another. Many expected another nailbiter between Grady Cram of the Gluebags and The AWAA’s Jimmy Cole. They did make it to the finals, but it was Grant Cummings of O’Farrell’s GOATs who walked off with the HRD title.

Championship Sunday was a first for SLAMT1D. Sixteen teams qualified for the playoffs, including four wild cards. The four top seeds played the four wild card teams: three of the top seeds won handily, but Red, White & Brew was upset by Hallam-ICS at Little Field of Dreams. Mike Abair’s Hallam team jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and when the home team RWB crept within two runs with an inning to play, Randy Bobineau launched a 2-run homer that gave Hallam-ICS a huge 9-5 upset victory. 

The next knockout rounds had the Striders bouncing the Bat Attitudes, Green Monsters rounding into form with a 7-2 win over the tough SB Wiffle, the Electric City Hitmen overcoming The AWAA on Aussy’s 3-run dinger in the 7th inning. The Gluebags then marched on and through the Striders 9-0, while the Green Monsters also nailed a shutout of the surprise Hallam-ICS team, 9-0. The Weekend Wifflers defeated Hawkins Bay with six home runs while Electric City squeezed by O’Farrell’s GOATs 2-0 on Josh Howland’s two-run blast. The semifinals were set: The defending champion Gluebags played the Weekend Wifflers while Mojo’s Green Monsters faced Electric City. At Little Wrigley, Kirk Fontana hit two homers, Dan French one and Justin Legautt a 2-run shot that propelled the Green Monsters past Electric City Hitmen 6-4 and into the Championship Game. The Gluebags muscled into their title defense behind homers by Collin Monsey and Hayden O’Day with Grady Cram’s clutch pitching as he struck out nine for the 5-3 win. Both semifinal games had moments of drama. The championship game, not so much as the Green Monsters’ Dan French silenced Gluebag bats, hit a couple homers and got support with homers from Jason parsons and Nico Ciano. The 7-1 victory was the Green Monsters third tournament title. Mike Moshovetis, aka “Mojo” was named Championship and tournament MVP as he essentially single-handedly fundraised the Green Monsters into the playoffs with 79 donors contributing $5,190!

Mojo-Tournament MVP 2022

The 11th Annual Vermont Summer Classic at Little Fenway was a big success because so many people care. Living with T1D can often be lonely, because so few people truly “get” what the disease does. The Vermont Summer Classic is that place as a mom said, “It’s like a big hug where we met so many people and it’s like they’re saying “We understand, we’re with you.” 

K.P., a school nurse administrator who attended the tournament for the first time, told us this: “I cannot explain to you what an amazing experience I had attending the Classic. When trying to explain it to my nurses I had to take some deep breaths and try to hold back the tears.”

Those are a couple of the many, many who experienced the magic that everyone contributed to. Congratulations!

SLAMT1D’s 12th Annual Vermont Summer Classic WIFFLE Ball Tournament will be held Friday-Sunday, August 11-13, 2023.