There were Little League games on opening day. It was one of two surprises on Saturday, April 11.
The fields were under a layer of snow all winter. When the snow finally melted, a rainy week kept the fields from being playable. But on Thursday a trailer filled with dirt arrived from Pennsylvania. Volunteers from the league and the Town labored over the fields. And a cold wind that blew hard on Saturday morning helped dry the playing surface.
The cold and a full schedule of games influenced the speakers at Cornwall’s 65th opening day ceremonies. They got right to the point. “Sixty-five years is quite an accomplishment,” Supervisor Randy Clark said when he was invited up to the microphone. “Cornwall was recently named one of the best places to raise a family,” he continued, “and this league is one of the reasons why.”
Mayor Brendan Coyne led the singing of “Take Me out to the Ball Game,” which was no surprise. He’s done it in the past. But before breaking into song, he got a laugh when he claimed that his vocal renditions helped him get re-elected.
County Legislator Kevin Hines reminisced about his first opening day 39 years ago. “I thought,” he recalled, “If only these people would stop talking, we could start playing baseball.”
While the speakers were deliberately brief, no one complained when Chaplain Robert Hershberger paused in his invocation to remember the friends of the league who passed away during the last year – John Burich, Matt Clancy, Bill Deans, Joe Roscino Sr. and six-year-old Christian Martinisi.
Christian’s younger brother Anthony threw out the first ball along with Elle Burich, Emma Ferraro, Michael Leach, Emily Roohan and Grayson Wojehowski. League President John Carnright served as master of ceremonies, and accepted a banner from the Major League All Star baseball team that won the district championship last summer.
To get to the traditional rites at the ball field, the teams left the Town Hall parking lot at 9 a.m. and paraded slowly along Hudson Street until they climbed the hill to reach the Major League diamond. As they stepped onto the playing field, they passed under an arch created by older players with inflatable bats. Margaret Quinn, who holds three positions on the Little League board, came up with the innovation. It was the second surprise of the morning.
Predictably, some of the balloon-like bats were used as war clubs before the ceremonies began.
