FDR Buddy Ball Tournament A Success: Ends in Tie!

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Above are the Danbury Lions and Southbury Knights at the "First Annual Franklin D. Roosevelt Buddy Ball Tournament". They are from l to r front row: Jared Morris, Paul Hickey; middle row: Ashley Ellenberg, Luke Jacobs, Brayden Evans, Matt Troy, Bryce Evans; back row: Knights Coach Rich Grayson, Ryan "Hollywood" Perreault, Heriberto "Hot Rod" Rodriguez, Ricky Flannery, Steven Millard, Lenny Rodriguez, Matt Greene, Zach Prosser, Brady Miller and Lions Coach Rick Flannery. 2 Knights Players: Jason Weitz and Justin Ziedman were at the game but had to leave a little early.


The first Annual Fraklin D Roosevelt Buddy Ball Tournament took place on Saturday April 27 and by all accounts was a huge success! The weather was in our favor, the bus ride was fun, the field looked great and the players were excited!

Highlights of the game included Danbury's break-out top of the first inning when they scored 6 runs and grabbed an early lead. The Danbury Lions' Jared Morris led off with a single which was followed up by singles from Bryce Evans, Brayden Evans, Matt Troy, Zach Prosser and Ryan Perreault - Paul Hickey drove in the 5th run of the inning with a ground ball to the left side.

Above l to r are Danbury High's Ricky Flannery and the Danbury Lions Jared Morris (from New Milford) who went 4 for 4 in Saturday's pre-season tournament in Hyde Park, NY.


Southbury held Danbury to only 1 run in the 2nd inning while mounting a comeback. But in the 3rd inning, Danbury came back again to score 5 on base hits from Morris, the Evans boys, Troy, Prosser, Hickey and "Hollywood" Perreault.

Southbury answered back and cut Danbury's lead to 1 run making Danbury have to come back yet again and try to get insurance runs in the 4th inning. Danbury matched their 3rd inning effort in the top of the 4th with consecutive base hits by Morris, the Evans boys, Troy, Prosser, Paul Hickey, Perreault & Brady Miller - scoring 5 more in the top of the 4th making the score 16-11. But Southbury would have none of it and mounted a comeback of their own scoring 5 runs in the bottom half which included a grand slam home run. Defensively, the Danbury Lions were able to prevent the Southbury Knights from getting the winning run and they came away with a tie: 16-16.

Highlights of the game included:


Jared Morris     4 for 4 with 4 runs scored
Bryce Evans      4 for 4 with 4 runs scored
Matt Troy           4 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI
Zach Prosser      3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI
Brayden Evans   4 for 4 with 4 runs scored and 2 RBI
Paul Hickey        3 for 4 with 2 RBI
Ryan Perreault     4 for 4 with 4 RBI
Brady Miller        1 for 4  with 1 RBI

Following the game, tournament medals were awarded to the players followed by the induction of the players into the Junior Secret Service by the US Park Service complete with certificates and badges denoting their good standing.

The Danbury Lions looked strong and are posied to have a great season. The first game of the season is this Saturday May 4 at 12 noon at Settler Field in Southbury CT where they meet up with their new rival the Southbury Knights.

I'd like to thank the following Danbury High School players: Ricky Flannery, Lenny Rodiguez, Heriberto "Hot Rod" Rodriguez, Matt Greene and Steven Millard who were the Buddies and helped the Danbury Lions and the Southbury Knights in the field, on the bases and at the plate..

Special thanks to Patrick Troy for keeping the book and to Colby Troy for supplying the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Sweet Caroline".

Many thanks also to Coach Rich Grayson of the Knights and the following people that truly made this work:

Park Ranger Scott Rector - FDR Home & Library
Park Ranger Kevin Thomas - FDR Home & Library
Chief Ranger Cathy Newhard - Law Enforcement FDR Library
Park Ranger Bill Urbin - FDR Home & Library
Coach Rich Grayson - Announcing
Frank Reed
Gary Simone
Danbury High Players
Bob Evans
Patrick Troy
Colby Troy
Paul Murphy - President Danbury Youth Baseball
Harry Sherman - Danbury Youth Baseball
Franceska Macsali-Urbin - FDR Home & Library
All the parents, friends and relatives of our Southbury and Danbury players.

Please forgive me if I forgot to thank anybody. If anyone has photos from that day please don't forget to email to Rick Flannery at cmadbase@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Just a note about our two teams. They are made up of players from the following Connecticut towns:

Danbury
Southbury
Newtown
Ridgefil
Brookfield
Bethel
New Milford

As we continue to grow, thanks to all the people that have realized the enormous benefits of this great program - in particular the Boards of Danbury and Southbury Youth Baseball!

Danbury & Southbury Buddy Ball Teams To Play FDR Tournament

On Saturday April 27, the Danbury CT Lions and Southbury CT Knights Buddy Ball baseball teams will travel to Hyde Park, NY for the first "Annual Franklin D. Roosevelt Buddy Ball Tournament" which will take place behind the FDR library at approximately 11:30am. The rain date for the event is Sunday April 28 at 11:30am.

The teams are made up of players from: Danbury, Newtown, Southbury, Bethel, Brookfield, New Milford & Ridgefield Connecticut and the program is growing fast!

Nearly 25 players will take part in this baseball game and all are hoping for some good old-fashioned baseball weather!

The players will make the 1 hour trek by bus and by car.

If you would like to join in the festivities or come out to support Buddy Ball go to this link for the FDR Home site to obtain directions etc -  http://www.nps.gov/hofr/planyourvisit/index.htm

This "Annual Franklin Roosevelt Buddy Ball Tournament" coincides with the 75th anniversary of the March of Dimes which was created by President Roosevelt himself in 1938. For a quick history of the March of Dimes check out this link - http://fdrlibrary.wordpress.com/tag/march-of-dimes/

Buddy Ball plays in the Spring and Fall every year - for more information about this great program contact Rick Flannery at cmadbase@yahoo.com.

Danbury & Southbury Buddy Ball Information & Spring 2013 Schedule

In short, the Buddy Ball concept consists of established young ballplayers and adults teaching kids with physical and developmental challenges between the ages of 5 and 20 to learn and play the game of baseball. While Buddy Ball has been around awhile, we began our own Danbury Buddy Ball program 3 years ago in the Spring of 2010.

When we started, we had 7 players and not everyone could be there for every game. We had 6 games in the Spring and 6 games in the Fall. While we succeeded in teaching baseball, the frustrating part was that the kids had to play against themselves all the time, thus they became exhausted because if they weren't on base or in the field they were up at the plate - as you can imagine, these kids were worn out by the 3rd inning!

After plugging along with our program, we hit it big at the end of our Spring 2012 season when our Danbury Buddy Ball - now known as the Danbury Lions and 10 players strong - played the Danbury Westerners (a summer team of college baseball players). Not only did the Buddy Ball "Danbury Lions" win the game but we turned out a huge crowd and got noticed!

This year, we have established our first annual Franklin D Roosevelt Buddy Ball Tournament on April 27, 2013 - the week before our season starts. We have also established a second team called the Southbury CT Knights. Danbury will play the Knights in the tournament at Hyde Park NY at 11:30am on Saturday April 27 - rain date Sunday April 28. The game will take place behind the Franklin Roosevelt Library. It is being held in Hyde Park to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the March of Dimes which was founded by President Franklin Roosevelt.

The Lions and the Knights players currently reside in Danbury, Southbury, Newtown, New Milford, Ridgefield, Bethel & Brookfield CT. The registration to play Buddy Ball is free! For more information about Buddy Ball or how to sign up for the 2013 Fall season please contact: Rick Flannery at cmadbase@yahoo.com.

Also for the first time, we will now always play as a team and we have uniforms! We have 15 players on for Danbury and are poised to create a 2nd Danbury Buddy Ball team.

We kick off our regular season in Southbury CT on Saturday May 4th and open in Danbury CT on Saturday May 11 complete with opening ceremonies and special guests.

Our Schedule is below. GO LIONS!!


The Southbury & Danbury CT Buddy Ball Schedule:


SAT APRIL 27 11:30am - First Annual Franklin D Roosevelt Buddy Ball Tournament at Hyde Park NY - Danbury CT vs Southbury CT

WED MAY 1st 6-8pm - Pasta Dinner fundraiser hosted by the Danbury High School seniors and peer leaders to benefit Buddy Ball - cost is $7 per person

SAT MAY 4th 12pm - Danbury vs Southbury at Settler #1 Field in Southbury CT

SAT MAY 11th 9am - Southbury vs Danbury at Rogers Park Field #1 in Danbury CT - opening ceremonies prior to game

SAT MAY 18th 12pm - Danbury vs Southbury at Settler #1 Field in Southbury CT

SAT MAY 25th - NO GAME

SAT JUNE 1st 9am - Southbury vs Danbury Rogers Park Field #4 in Danbury CT

SAT JUNE 8th 12pm - Danbury vs Southbury at Settler #1 Field in Southbury CT

SAT JUNE 15th 9am - Southbury vs Danbury at Rogers Park Field #4 in Danbury CT

Winners of the Final Spring 2012 Season Game vs the Danbury Westerners!

Above photo shows the Danbury CT Lions after their comeback win against the Danbury Westerners in June, 2012.

From l to r Front Row: Matt Troy (Newtown), Braden Evans (Danbury), Bryce Evans (Danbury), Player Unknown (sorry!!), Paul Hickey (Danbury), Ryan "Hollywood" Perreault (Danbury), Brendan Taylor (Ridgefield). Back Row l to r: Zach Prosser (Danbury), Cynthia (Danbury), Oliver Croxford-Broc (Danbury) and Brady Miller (Danbury).

On the final Buddy Ball game of the 2012 Spring season the Danbury Westerners played the Danbury CT Lions Buddy Ball team in a game that was close but ultimately went the Danbury Lions way as they came back to win! Picture above are the members of the team that played that day!

GO LIONS!