Jaxon Marocco Tournament successful in first year

By Jacob Marrocco
Posted 8/23/16

The action on the field was ancillary. Chariho cruised to a 15-3 victory over Warwick North on Sunday night, but it was the culmination of a week's worth of action on and off the diamond in support of the

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Jaxon Marocco Tournament successful in first year

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The action on the field was ancillary.

Chariho cruised to a 15-3 victory over Warwick North on Sunday night, but it was the culmination of a week’s worth of action on and off the diamond in support of the first-ever Jaxon Marocco Tournament.

The event was rebranded in honor of Jaxon Marocco this year by Warwick North President Dave Palumbo and Bob Brodeur, who contacted Steve Marocco, owner of Elmwood Sports, about the gesture.

Jaxon, Steve’s grandson, passed away a few weeks ago from Niemann-Pick disease, a rare genetic disorder, at just 22 months old.

“The most important thing as a grandparent is to make sure that his name lives on,” Steve Marocco said. “Anybody who met Jax, I don’t care if it was the way he looked at them or smiled, he changed them. We honestly believe he came down as divine intervention. The bottom line is he changed so many people.”

The tournament began on Monday and, despite some minor hiccups along the way, featured its highest volume of teams in history. Even when it was the Red Andrews Tournament, according to Brodeur, it had never seen 10 teams participate.

“Well, we’re not going to fail, for starters. Every dollar, if we got $1, if we got $1,000, we figured it was a success for what we want to do,” Brodeur said of the week-long occasion, which raised $1,500. “Everything went great. All 10 teams came back and stayed the entire week. No team had to drop out because they were short [of] players. Everybody got five games. No real complaints, no real problems.”

Steve Marocco had been connected to the Red Andrews Tournament for decades, as his store provided uniforms for all of the teams involved. When he was approached about having the storied event renamed for his grandson, he was “floored.”

“It’s a testament to the people in Warwick,” Steve Marocco said. “It’s obvious that we’ve touched them, too, that we have a relationship with them. The relationship at our store is that you come in as a customer, you leave as a friend. And we’ve always done that. To me, you build relationships, and they go for beyond just selling them stuff. We were honored, and we’re looking forward to seeing it grow.

“Jax, I know would have been an all-star,” Steve said with a smile. “Whether he played with this group or the regular all-stars, he would have been an all-star, but I know more than anything he would have been a good teammate. Even as a 22-month-old boy, he inspired a lot of people.”

The teams on the field embodied that sportsmanship as they narrowed the bracket down to two squads that faced off Sunday night at Warwick National. Chariho scored early and often, but even when it exceeded the usual mercy rule of 10 runs, the game continued.

Brodeur said the exception was made for the championship game to let the players soak up as many innings as they can before the curtain came down on the baseball season.

“I loved every minute of it,” Brodeur said. “I appreciate everybody coming from Chariho, Lincoln, North Providence, North Kingstown, Apponaug, Warwick. I think the crowd would’ve been bigger if Warwick wasn’t in the [Little League] World Series down in Williamsport right now, but we take what we can get. We had our 50/50s, we had some raffles, we had some prizes, we raised a little money and we know Jax’s name is going to be remembered.”

It wasn’t just Brodeur who thoroughly enjoyed the tournament, as teams from all around the state were embracing the message of the week.

“Every kid’s been coming up and asking us for a Jaxon hat,” Brodeur said. “When we get a little boy that gets a Jax hat and his parents came back the next day and said ‘He wouldn’t take his hat off, went to bed with it and slept with it on,’ we know the cause is doing the right thing.”

Every dollar raised at the inaugural Jaxon Marocco Tournament is going to Niemann-Pick research. Next time around, Brodeur said there will be an additional $500 scholarship fund in Jaxon’s memory.

There were contributions from every reach of Warwick. George Russell, who runs the St. Greg’s baseball program, stuck around to work the public address booth and play music Sunday night. Rigatoni’s and Piezoni’s also donated food and the three umpires present for the championship round offered their time for free.

The sense of community was the most striking aspect of the tournament for Steve Marocco, and how it helped create a memorable weekend for the players involved.

“That’s the most amazing thing, you think you’re from Cranston,” Steve Marocco said of the widespread support from Warwick. “We do a lot of different sports in Warwick, but it’s all about the kids having a good time. We don’t get anything from this in terms of Elmwood Sports, I’m just happy seeing more kids play. You just want to see the kids enjoy themselves.”

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