There were just eight kids at their first practice; finding baseball diamonds to use has been a challenge and the actual games are only tentatively scheduled. Still, the players and coaches for the 18U Concord Cannons team are willing to clear any hurdles just to have a chance at playing some ball this summer as part of the New Hampshire COVID Baseball League.
“These kids are at the point where they will do anything they can to get on a baseball field,” Cannons coach Eric Duquette said. “If I told them they just had to throw left-handed the whole time and keep their other hand in their pocket they would do that, they’re just so excited.”
In past years, the 18U Cannons team traveled around the Northeast during the summer to the most competitive tournaments it could find. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cannons general manager Bryan Caruso and Duquette have decided to keep the team in New Hampshire, where they will be playing against four teams from two other clubs – Seacoast United and New Hampshire Prospects – and six teams with rosters made up of players who would have played Legion baseball (the American Legion decided not to sponsor baseball this summer) in the COVID league, which is for players age 19 and under.
The NHCBL was started by Tim Lunn, who has been the coach for Nashua Post 3. The league’s 11 teams are currently allowed to practice under the guidelines put forth by Phase 1 of Gov. Chris Sununu’s reopening plan for youth sports. If and when the governor moves to Phase 2, which allows games, the league is ready to start play on June 22 with each team having a 20-game schedule.
“I got the schedule on Monday and (the next day) I had our starting rotation for the first 18 games all planned out,” Duquette said. “I’m just as excited as the kids.”
That pitching rotation will feature Adrian Siravo, who also played for Duquette at Gilford High. Siravo, a senior, was the Division III Player of the Year in 2019 and has a full scholarship to play college baseball at UConn.
“I’m so excited that they were able to get something ready for us to play summer ball, some COVID league,” Siravo said. “Just like everyone I had to miss my senior year of baseball, and I was very disappointed about that, obviously, so I’m just really excited for baseball to start again.”
Siravo will get to play with two of his former Gilford teammates this summer – Isaac Wallace and TJ Carmilia. Three Concord High players are on the Cannons 18U roster – Trevor Smith, Jonah Wachter and Tyler Wright – but Smith will not play as he recovers from elbow surgery. Bishop Brady’s Connor Treybig, Hopkinton’s Sam Crawford and Belmont’s Griffin Embree are also on the roster, as are Alex Rives from New Hampton School, Nick Pelletier from Tilton School, Joe Songen from Trinity and Tyler Hicks from White Mountains.
Siravo and the rest of the Cannons will have to get used to practicing and playing under the new guidelines. They can’t share equipment or high-fives. They have to wear masks entering and exiting the playing field, they will be screened before practices and games and they have to stay 6 feet apart. And those are just some of the rules in place to help keep people healthy and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“It’s going to be different and it might be a little difficult for us to remember all the guidelines all the time,” Siravo said. “But you’ve got to be safe. Nobody wants to get COVID.”
Duquette has become familiar with safety recommendations and requirements concerning the coronavirus thanks to his job as the president of Abrasives & Tools of NH, an industrial tool supplier warehouse in Pembroke.
“I’ve taken class after class on safety, so I’m very versed in what needs to be done, and I’m happy to say that (Abrasives & Tools) has stayed open through all of this and we employ 25 people and we have not had one case,” Duquette said. “And what we’ve done (for the COVID league) is take the CDC recommendations and Governor Sununu’s guidelines and we’ve taken that a step farther and added our own rules, too.
“We’re taking this very seriously. We had a kid show up at our first practice without a helmet, and he wanted to use anther kid’s helmet but I wouldn’t let him so he couldn’t hit.”
Five other Cannons baseball teams, from 10U to 16U, also began practicing this week.
“They’re all playing in the New Hampshire EBL (Elite Baseball League) when games are allowed, and it was the same sort of deal, we came up with rules and regulations for playing against each other no matter what organization the teams were part of,” said Caruso, the Cannons general manager who also coaches. “So, everyone kind of came together and worked that out and that’s been a nice part about all of this, everyone working together to create this and have a season for the kids.”
Caruso also runs the Concord Sports Center, an indoor training facility and home base for the Cannons. It has been closed for nearly three months, but Caruso is preparing for the time when he can re-open.
“We already have some plans in place and some new guidelines for when we are allowed to open,” Caruso said. “We’re going to reduce our hours, reduce the total number of people allowed inside and everything will be by appointment only so we can really control what’s going on in here.”
He’s hopeful that time will come shortly.
“I think in the next week or two we’re going to have some type of reopening, that’s what we assume. I think it’s been voted on by the reopening committee, what to do with indoor sports facilities and batting cages, so we’re just waiting to see when that’s going to happen,” Caruso said. “We’re just hoping to get back on track and get back to some kind of normal, just like everyone else.”