Mary Mellas drove up from New Jersey to watch her granddaughter, West School fourth-grader Lauren Mellas, pitch on Opening Night for the AAA division of New Canaan Softball on Thursday.
“She’s doing really great,” Mellas said from a grandstand at Waveny’s orchard field on a sunny, windy evening as the Glory team took on the Racers. “She’s a special little girl. It’s really fun to see them evolve. I saw her pitch last year and she’s starting off strong today.”
Mary Mellas traveled to New Canaan from New Jersey to watch her granddaughter, 9-year-old Lauren Mellas, open the softball season in the circle at Waveny Park's orchard field.
Dozens of parents joined her for a special start to the season, with a DJ playing dance music between innings, the Super Duper Weenie truck giving away food and some members of defending FCIAC champion New Canaan High School softball team helping the youngsters learn the game.
Here’s a little video from the event, article continues below.
“It’s going fantastic,” said Tom Sanseverino, commissioner of the AAA league and coach of Glory. “We had a national anthem. The girls were excited. Everything we practiced, they’re doing in the game. It’s a lot of fun. We had the varsity girls help us and assist us in the beginning, so they were very motivating and shared their championship, and it starts from the top-down. And the girls are just gravitating to their leadership and they want to be just like them. So it’s fantastic to have that model.”
Lauren Mellas had her own personal cheering section between her grandmother, nanny Rose Cogswell and little sister Brooke.
The younger Mellas, 7, a West School second-grader, said she’s not a softball player herself—though she’s seen Lauren pitch 10 times, she said—and prefers dancing.
She watched the game with friend Gianna Marciano, 7, a West School first-grader who plays softball herself and was on hand to watch big sister Adriana Neese, she said.
“I like to bat,” Gianna told NewCanaanite.com.
The Cub Juniors Grapefruit division (7-year-olds) of New Canaan Baseball—which is preparing to install new mesh windscreens in the outfield at Mead Park’s Gamble and Mellick Fields—opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Irwin Park, with eight New Canaan facing off, and a DJ and free hot dog truck on site with complimentary food.
L-R: Gianna Marciano, 7, a West School first-grader, and Brooke Mellas, 7, a second-grader there, were on hand to watch their big sisters play in the 10-and-under New Canaan Softball AAA division Opening Night game at Waveny.