Jack Hennessy Repeats As Norwalk Hour All-Area Baseball MVP
It’s tough to repeat.
Jack Hennessy accomplished that feat as FCIAC champion — with both the soccer and baseball teams.
Now he’s done it again. For the 2nd year in a row, the 2nd baseman and leadoff hitter has been named Norwalk Hour All-Area MVP.
He was also FCIAC 2010 Player of the Year.
Jack Hennessy
Hennessy led the area with a .526 batting average. He collected a school-record 40 hits, including 5 doubles and 4 home runs; struck out just 6 times in 76 at-bats, stole 23 bases and scored 33 runs.
Hennessy — who finished as Staples’ all-time hits leader with 110 in his career — posted a .586 on-base percentage and a .776 slugging percentage.
Defensively he made 1 error all season — in the regular-season finale.
“He’s just a complete ball player,” Angelo Bruno, head coach at Norwalk High for 10 seasons, told the Hour. “He controls every game, one way or another. He wants to win and he always finds a way to beat you.”
Writer Matthew Doran added:
Hennessy, who bats left-handed and throws righty, could hit for power. He hit for average. He bunted. He used his speed to beat out infield singles. Whatever it took to get on base, Hennessy did it.
“If you were out of position at third base, he’d make you pay, and if you were playing up tight on him, he’d slap it past you for a double. He took what the defense gave him,” (Staples head coach Jack) McFarland said. “He hit the ball from line to line. He’s impossible to defend because he uses the whole field.”
The name of the game in baseball is scoring runs, and Hennessy did that better than anyone.
“I loved to play on the road because I wanted Jack in the batter’s box to start the game,” McFarland said. “When he gets on base, it’s look-out time.”
The quintessential Jack Hennessy photo — combining soccer, baseball, and raw speed.
Hennessy set the tone for everything Staples did offensively, leading the Wreckers to the most regular-season wins (18) in school history and an 18-4 overall record.
Even more impressive, Staples went 62-30 overall and 50-22 in the FCIAC during Hennessy’s 4 years with the program and 52-19 overall and 41-13 in the FCIAC during his three seasons as a starter.
“He’s the kind of kid, if you’re starting a high school baseball team, he’s the one you pick first,” McFarland said. “He’s one of those kids, when you put him in the lineup, you know he’s never going to give it up. That was Jack. Once we put him in the leadoff spot as a freshman, he was never going to lose that spot ever again.”
Hennessy is a 3-sport athlete — and it is the 3rd one that he will pursue at the next level. He is headed to Boston College — as a 3rd-generation legacy — where he will run track.
