Update & Announcement from West Hartford Post 96 AMERICAN LEGI Subject: WH Post 96 AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL
1.Public Health update; what it means to summer American Legion Baseball
2.2020 Season Head Coaches Announced
Greetings,
West Hartford Baseball Players, Parents and Supporters,
Public Health Update
Hope you and your families are safe and healthy, certainly challenging times that no one has seen before and in some cases we are actually putting our lives on hold waiting each day for some positive information that we may get excited about. Baseball traditionally has done that for us but as of this memo, even the High School CIAC is not sure what the future holds for our players this spring. We recently received a communication from the CT. Legion Baseball Board asking us not to hold any workouts nor coach’s meetings until further notice. However, we are allowed to reach out to individual players via social media as needed. What this means is that we are in a holding pattern until further notice. We will keep you updated as new information becomes available. In the interim, we ask each player to be smart and protect themselves, stay healthy.
2020 Pre-season Information
We would like to thank Jim Hungerford for his dedicated service to the Post 96 Baseball Program over the last 4 years. Recently, Jim decided to step down as General Manager and 19U Head Coach. Jim brought significant energy to Post 96 baseball over the last four years as all the teams under his leadership advanced deep into the playoffs each year. In 2017, West Hartford 19U made a deep run in the playoffs to the state championship and then onto the New England Regional. Thank you Jim for your dedicated service, attention to detail and leadership. A job well done!
Moving into 2020, WH Post 96 Baseball is again positioned as West Hartford’s highest level of baseball as well as one of the premier programs in Connecticut. We are announcing our Head Coaches for the upcoming season:
- Our 19U team will bring several players back from last summers’ state regional team as well as offer opportunities for our former 17U team members to move up to the Senior Legion level. West Hartford’s own, Nick Sanford will lead our 19U team as Head Coach. Nick is a Hall and Post 96 Alum. He played his college baseball at the University of Massachusetts as a middle infielder, as well as played in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. After college, Nick coached at both the High School and Collegiate level. Nick presently serves with the West Hartford Police Department. Welcome Nick, it is great to have you lead our 19U program!
- Head Coach 19U Senior Legion Team – Nick Sanford.
- West Hartford is fortunate to have many outstanding players at the 17U level. The development pipeline at the 16 and 17 year old level is strong and a positive indication for the next 2 – 3 years. Leading our 17U team is Head Coach Sean McCann. We look forward to our 17U team competing in Zone One.
- Head Coach 17U Junior Legion Team – Sean McCann
- Through the support of the West Hartford American Legion Post 96, we are expanding our 15U division. For the summer of 2020, we will expand from one to two teams that will compete in the Zone 3 South Division. Leading these teams:
- Head Coach 15U Prep Legion Red team - Rob Hanawalt.
- Head Coach 15U Prep Legion Blue team - Brendan Smith.
- We are in the process of confirming our Assistant Coaches across all four teams. As this information becomes available we will update the WH POST 96 baseball page found on the CT American Legion Baseball website; ctlegionbball.com
Looking forward to putting this situation behind us and enjoying Post 96’s Summer Season, if you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Stay safe and healthy.
Thank you very much.
John Cotter
General Manager, West Hartford Post 96 Baseball
(860-978-2869)
