By RUSSELL JONES
On the weekend of July 19, 20 and 21 all-star baseball comes to Brandon for the third annual Marble Valley All Star Jamboree and Home Run Derby. Teams from New York and Vermont will descend on Neshobe field to vie for the tournament championship, as well as to try their skills at the long ball in the Home Run Derby.
The Marble Valley All-stars consist of some of the best local 10 and under Minors and 12 and under Majors baseball players. Twelve and under players include Middlebury’s Dylan Stowe along with Isaac Whitney, Logan Letourneau, Quincy Boone, Jackson Howe and Hayden Lutkus from Brandon. Other area players are Sudbury’s Zac Dragon, Fair Haven’s Maxx Kyhill, Orwell/Benson’s Caleb Foster and Jack Almeida, and rounding out the team are Pittsford’s Brody Lathrop, Nolan Tripp and Jacob Warrell.
Players with the 10 and under team from Brandon are: Lucas Whitney, Colby Benoit, Nolan Quenneville, Max Potter and Marek Heitmann. Orwell/Benson’s Joe Kendall and Tom Buxton, Fair Haven’s Sam Kyhill, Barstow’s Collin Bridge, Aiden Galliano, Gavin Sullivan, Gavin Treanor, Charlie Murphy and Giovanni Spalleiri complete that team.
Manager Duke Whitney is in the sixth year of organizing the teams, and the third year of hosting this event.
“I grew up playing baseball all summer,” Whitney said. “When Little League All-Stars ended in early July it was family games weekly at Jack Brown field in East Middlebury. It always turned into pick up games with the neighborhood kids and even parents.”
“I loved playing ball and there is not much opportunity for kids to enjoy what I enjoyed in my youth,” he continued. “Baseball players from the Middlebury area do get a chance to earn a spot on the Addison County All Star teams, but players from Leicester south compete in the Rutland county league, which is not sanctioned and has no summer baseball.”
Whitney said the home run derby has grown very popular. It’s open to everyone with age divisions of 8-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-17, and 18 and up.
“There is also a pitching station with a radar-gun, so participants can see how fast or slow they throw,” Whitney added.
The rules are simple: participants must use an old “Little League Approved” or the new USA “Little League” bat. They must supply their own pitcher and each participant gets 15 swings. Baseballs are provided at the field and bats will be on hand as well.
The official date of the Home Run Derby is Saturday, July 20. Division start times are: 8-to-9-year-olds and 10-to-12-year-olds at 10 a.m.; 13-to-15-year-olds go from 11 a.m. until noon; 16-to-17-year-olds go from noon to 1 p.m.; and everyone 18 and up will bat between 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The cost of the Home Run Derby is $5 per entry and participants can enter as many times as they wish.
Participants of any age division can get an early jump on the Derby by partaking on Friday, July 19 from 5 p.m. till 8 p.m. Trophies for each division winner will be awarded at the finish of each division time on Saturday.
Beginning at 9 a.m. on Saturday and ending mid-day on Sunday, tournament games will being played at the same location as the Home Run Derby, 17 Neshobe Circle in Brandon.
“We hope people will come out and enjoy the weekend of baseball, great food from the concession stand, and relax with America’s greatest pastime,” Whitney said. “People can stay updated on weather, standings, etc. on our face book page ‘Marble Valley Baseball Jamboree’ or by emailing Duke Whitney at barrywhitney@myfairpoint.net.”
