Sometimes, it takes a tragedy for people to pull together.
Such was the case Saturday at the 2nd Annual Emily Shann Memorial Softball Tournament when four teams – and hundreds of enthusiastic fans – gathered for a day of great softball along with mixing, mingling, and memories.
Last season, Shann had just begun her freshman year on the Crusaders’ softball team when she was killed suddenly in a tragic accident. The team dedicated the season to her memory, wearing her No. 3 on hair ribbons and painting the same on upper arms. The season turned out to be a magical one for the Crusaders, who upset top-seeded St. Mary’s in an extra-inning, nine-inning thriller to punch their ticket to the Division 4 Final Four, where they were eliminated by Norton.
This year, however, due to no fault on the part of Fenwick’s student-athletes, the Crusaders have been barred from all tournaments. Instead of anxiously awaiting the release of brackets, the softball community instead focused its energy on remembering one of its own – Emily Shann – with a tournament of its own.
Senior captain Meg Donnelly’s mother, Kathie Donnelly, was one of the tournament organizers.
“My daughter, Meg, was fortunate to have been able to get to know Emily and play with her, so certainly, as a parent, we want to try to give back to and support Emily’s family,” Kathie Donnelly said. “Softball was one of Emily’s great loves, so this is an incredible day for us to have together.”
Mireille Climenson, Alexandra Morgan and Julia Davis helped the cause by selling beautiful bead bracelets they designed and created. The bracelets, personalized with Shann’s initials and No. 3, were priced at $4 and nearly sold out by 1 p.m.
“It’s so special just to be able to support the scholarships,” said Fenwick student Mireille Climenson.
Morgan agreed, adding, “It’s really special to be a part of this.”
Davis said more than $400 had been raised by mid-afternoon.
“It was just really great to be able to be involved with Emily’s family, so we are so happy to be able to contribute in some way and help raise money for the scholarships.”
Donnelly said that, right now, the focus is building up the scholarship’s kitty.
“It’s really only been a year and it’s still early to award scholarships,” she said. “I think that when the time is right. The Shann family will decide whether it’s individual scholarships for players or something more, lasting in terms of the school. Last year’s tournament was just a few weeks after we lost Emily, so it was certainly a lot. I think the time is coming when the family decides how they want to pay the best tribute to Emily.”
Head coach Brian Seabury said the plan going forward is to make the tournament a permanent event.
“I always tell everyone that softball is secondary and you have to put it in perspective,” he said. “This day is more important for other reasons. It’s great to see all the people come out for such a good cause and we always want to run this as long as possible.”
