As I wind down covering baseball here in Rhode Island this month, I can’t help posting and sharing exciting news from the Rhode Island Baseball Community. After all the posts, photos, videos, and shares – that has been the driving focus of this blog and its social media pages. Engaging the entire Rhode Island Baseball Community with exciting, positive news about one of its important members. So, in the spirit of that focus, I am pleased to share an email I received yesterday from Chariho Little League’s Chris Charette:
“Good morning Noel, as you touched on baseball tournaments throughout the state in today’s post I felt it was a good opportunity to announce that based on the success of the Joe Charette Memorial Tournament we wanted to come up with a way to give back. Starting this year we have created the Chariho Little League – Joe Charette Memorial Scholarship. The application process will open in January with a May 1 deadline. Eligibility will be for Chariho graduating students enrolling in an accredited college who played with Chariho Little League until at least their 12 year old season. Other Eligibility requirements will also be announced in January. One $1,000 award will be granted this year and hopefully we can grow the fund each year. Thank you for all you have done to help us get this tournament out there from a year where there may have been no baseball with Covid to it growing each year. We are excited that several out of state teams from Mass and CT expressed interest next year which will be an amazing experience for this tournament.“
Chris and I connected in the summer of 2020 when there were no district all stars, no RI states, no Eastern Regionals, and sadly, no Williamsport trips for anyone, anywhere. Chris formatted an all-star weekend tournament for Rhode Island teams who wanted to compete against the entire field of teams, not just their district. I helped with PR and posting the flyer on this blog and my social media pages, then with promoting it to league Presidents that I was friendly with. The result was a widely successful 10U and 12U tournament run that Summer of 2020 that has been followed up each summer since with more and more teams and more and more memories. That All-Star Weekend tournament became what is known today as the Joe Charette Memorial Tournament. Chris and his volunteer staff do an amazing job coordinating the 10U and 12U teams, who play a play-in round early in the week, then head to Dow Field, home of Chariho Little League, for the championship rounds over the weekend. It is one of the best run and best attended Rhode Island tournaments every summer.
Fantastic news Chris and congratulations to you and your staff for creating this Chariho Little League – Joe Charette Memorial Scholarship. To learn more about Chariho Little League, including registration information for the 2023 season, head over to www.chariholittleleague.org.
The Rhiter 
Leave a Reply