New Sperry Park softball field and teamwork to build it celebrated

Rayna Banks, left, and Mark Massaro cut the ribbon at the official ribbon cutting at the new softball field at Sperry Park on Saturday.

AVON, April 25, 2026 – Eight or nine years ago, Mark Massaro, then the president of Avon Little League, stood at the site of the former Towpath School in Avon with Town Manager Brandon Robertson and several other town officials.

The school had been razed by the town in 2006 and land near Sperry Park sat vacant and quiet, absent the cars streaming by on nearby Route 10.

“It was a pile of dirt, rocks and rubble,” Massaro said.

“We talked about what it could be,” Robertson said.

On Saturday, it was a much different scene – a much louder scene.

Hundreds of Little League baseball and softball players participated in the annual season opening jamboree at Sperry Park on the newly-constructed softball field. Music spilled across the complex from a DJ.

Youngsters got their new uniforms for the season. They ran around with their friends, laughed, got their photos taken with their teammates and participated in a variety of kids activities and crafts.

And they saw the grand opening and ribbon cutting for a new, lighted softball field as part of the Sperry Field complex, that already has two regulation-size baseball diamonds with lights.

Much of the fill for the field came from dirt that needed to be moved from the recent realignment of Old Farms Road. Ordinarily, dirt (also known as clean fill) not needed for a project needs to be moved away or disposed of at a cost to the contractor and to the town that hired them, according to town officials.

Kids cheer on their friends during Saturday’s opening day jamboree at the new Sperry Park diamond.

But in this case, the clean fill was simply moved across town to the Towpath School site, saving money for the disposal of the dirt. And the town didn’t have to secure clean fill from another source to build the project.

“It’s about making the best use of the resources you have on hand rather than going out and paying top dollar in the market,” Robertson said. “It was just ideal that we had this resource (clean fill) and this need (softball field) and we were able to put the two together.”

Bruce Williams, Director of Public Works, said that there is eight to nine feet of fill that was needed to build the field. He estimated 15,000 to 20,000 cubic yards of clean fill was used to make the field.

According to the 2025-26 town budget, the town committed $530,000 to build the field. Avon Little League raised $150,000 over several years from local businesses and residents and the town received a $200,000 grant in 2023 from the state of Connecticut toward the cost of the field.

State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw, who represents Avon and Canton, helped secure the grant.

“Everybody chipped in,” Williams said. “The league, the town, the engineering department, the public works department, different divisions in public works such as building and grounds, fleet. Everyone of those divisions had a part in building this.”

Not only did the new field get built but the parking at the site was updated. Additional handicap spots were added

“This is what happens people talk instead of arguing,” Massaro said.

“This is really a text book in a project that brings together a lot of stakeholders to meet the needs of the community,” Robertson said. “It started years ago with a request from Rayna Banks and the softball group. And it takes patience. The design work was done by the engineering department. The public works department basically built out the field, coordinated with the contractors and pulled it all together.”

“It’s a great product. We delivered it at a fantastic price,” he said.

A variety of Avon leaders were at the ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Sperry Park softball diamond. From left: Bruce Williams, Director of Public Works; James Close, president of Avon Little League; State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw, Mark Massaro, Avon Little League Board of Directors, State Senator Paul Honig, Margaret Bratton, Avon Town Council member, Rayna Banks, vice president softball for Avon Little League and Tom Mango, former Avon Little League president.

Massaro said the project was initially to build a new baseball field. But once the inequities of what was available for boys vs. girls in terms of fields and facilities was raised, the focus turned toward a softball facility.

Bleachers and a press box still have to be installed at the field. But the games have begun. It is the new home for the Avon High softball team, which is off to a 10-0 start, the best start in program history, which dates back to the early 1970s.

The lights are operational, which will give Avon the opportunity to host night games during the high school season and for Little League postseason tournaments during the summer – an opportunity that the boys program has long had.

“I wanted to help create for the girls in town a place where they can just be kids,” Banks said in brief remarks before the ribbon cutting. “A place where they can build friendships, make memories and learn life lessons.”

After the official ribbon cutting and the traditional introduction of all of the baseball and softball teams in Avon Little League this spring, several of the girls playing softball ran around the bases, timed by league officials and members of the Avon High softball team.

There were plenty of cheers and smiles for girls running the bases from their teammates.

Kids cheer on their teammates as they race around the bases at the new Sperry Field diamond in Avon.

Players from the Avon High softball team attended in full uniform. It was just a few years ago that they were in Little League. Now, they are the role models that today’s Little League players are looking up to.

“It is for our kids, for our neighbor’s kids and maybe grandkids down the road,” Massaro said referring to the volunteers in Avon Little League who helped this project and operate the league. “We do this for a reason. We love the game – softball and baseball. We invest our time and enjoy it to be with our kids and our neighbor’s kids.”

Massaro isn’t league president anymore. He gave that up in 2023. But he is still on the league’s Board of Directors as the league’s Director of Safety. Banks is the league’s vice president of softball. The current Avon Little League president is James Close.