For a quarter century, people have witnessed grown men running around Waveny Park wearing t-shirts with ties printed on them.
2016 Men’s Rec Softball Champs, The Firm. Credit: Contributed
This originally ironic, now iconic image is The Firm, a team in the New Canaan Recreation Department’s Men’s Softball League, which was on full display on Monday night when they clinched the championship title for the third straight year in an 8-4 victory over The Other Ones. The Firm opened up a 5-0 lead with a four run third inning and never looked back. The top seed in the tournament, The Firm closed out an undefeated playoff run after wins over Cruden Bay Contracting (14-7, 11-3), Paladino Construction (6-4, 7-4), and The Other Ones (6-4, 8-4).
Over the last three years the team has notched an impressive 65-6 record, with 951 runs scored (13.4 per game) and 358 runs allowed (5.0 per game), for a margin of +593 (+8.4 per game). Founded in 1991 by Dave Rucci, a then young local attorney and graduate of New Canaan High School, The Firm brought home its sixth championship trophy in its history, tied for third most all time, according to the Recreation Department’s records. The “three-peat” is the seventh time in league history that a team has won three or more consecutive titles.
The current team is led by another lawyer, local resident Jack Sousa of Shady Knoll Lane who practices law at Lev & Berlin, P.C. in Norwalk and another NCHS graduate in Mike Dreher. The team presently features 8 former Rams including Dreher, Mike Kisken, Jim Hahn, Mike Martinovich, John Dean, Mike DeMasi, Jon Drenckhahn, and Mike Keshin. The team continues to combine past and present, with a combination of players in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. This year’s roster was rounded out by Chris Kinder, Ed Johnsen, Kevin Sousa, Ryan Mooney, Sean Halloran, Shane Smith, Todd Deklyn, and ace pitcher Bobby Rowland.
The softball league spans from April to August with all its games being played on weeknights in Waveny Park and has been in existence for over fifty years and is generally open to men who have a connection (living, working, or having graduated high school) to New Canaan and is an A.S.A. sanctioned league with some local by-laws and rules.