White River Junction
John O’Hara, president of the post’s baseball organization and the senior team’s assistant coach, said the state organization approved Post 84’s bid last weekend and that eight teams will compete from July 22-26. The winner advances to the New England regional tournament.
Four of the eight Vermont teams will come from the North Division and the other four from the South Division, which includes White River Junction. Post 84 reached the tournament semifinals this year and the finals in 2015, when it competed without an affiliated post. This year, high school players from Hartford, Windsor, Rivendell and Oxbow were included on the senior team’s roster.
“Our central location in the state, Maxfield having lights and the chance to play all the tournament games at one location were our selling points,” said O’Hara, a former high school and senior Legion head coach in Western Massachusetts who moved to the Upper Valley three years ago. “We’re honored and privileged to have been chosen to do this.”
O’Hara said Rutland Post 31 has hosted the tournament for the last five years, but that the organization was receptive to another post taking the 2017 event. Most games were held at Castleton University, but a few were held at St. Peter’s Field in Rutland.
“It’s been wearing on the Rutland parents,” said O’Hara, adding that the host organization needed to fundraise $8,000 to put on this year’s tournament. “They were looking for someone to take it over for a year and we got a great response from our post members and parents about volunteering. We’re going to need about 35 of them.”
O’Hara said choosing the tournament’s location happens annually in the fall and that no decisions have been made regarding 2018 and beyond. He emphasized that he and the Post 84 representatives pitched the Upper Valley region as a whole, not just White River Junction and Hartford.
“It’s a chance for us to help grow Legion baseball in the area and in the state,” O’Hara said. “We want to incorporate the towns around here and the (Veterans Administration Medical Center) and get local recreation departments involved from both sides of the river.”
Post 84 conferred with the Upper Valley Nighthawks, another Maxfield tenant, before making its pitch. O’Hara said he’s hopeful the New England Collegiate Baseball League team can play a night game at Maxfield during the tournament so the younger players and their parents can attend and enjoy a higher level of competition.
“We want to have a Military Appreciation Day, a First Responders Day and a Youth Day during the tournament,” O’Hara said. “We’re hoping to have a color guard at each game and have some of the teams visit veterans at the hospital.
“I don’t think we’ll have a problem duplicating what they’ve been doing at Castleton or even doing it better.”