The fourth annual Vanessa Masucci Softball Tournament will make its return to the Bowzer Complex/Breed Middle School fields on Saturday, July 23, and the tournament will be honoring a new scholarship recipient — St. Mary’s ace Lily Newhall.
Masucci was a former softball player for St. Mary’s High School who had become a second-grade teacher at the Connery School. She was found dead in her home in September 2017, and her husband, Andrew MacCormack, was sentenced to life in prison for her murder in December 2019.
In July of 2018, the Masucci family, along with Vanessa’s friends and former teammates, ran their inaugural softball tournament, and it was a success. The event, which is held to fund a scholarship in Vanessa’s honor, raised $9,000 — enough money to award a scholarship to Lynn Tech student Katryn Barr.
The tournament was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the family hosted a virtual 5k run in its place and still awarded a scholarship to Lynn English’s Julianna Perry. When the tournament made its return in 2021, the scholarship was awarded to Lynn Classical’s Brooke Warren.
There will be a field of eight co-ed softball teams in this year’s tournament, with all proceeds going to benefit the Vanessa Masucci Scholarship Fund.
