Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua South's Albert De La Rosa checks on Nashua North's Jafet Rodriguez after Rodriguez tumbled into an out trying to steal second during a game last season. There wil be no North-South battles this spring as the NHIAA has cancelled the entire season.

Bishop Guertin High School softball coach Leah Maciejewski was conducting a zoom meeting with her team Thursday afternoon when the news came down, and she could see the expression on their faces first-hand.

Spring sports was cancelled for 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. And that’s just a month after the tough news when winter tournaments were cut short and co-champions named.

“I didn’t even need to look, but when I did, you could see it their faces,” she said. “They were all disappointed.”

Basically, it was a domino effect yesterday afternoon. First, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu announced remote learning at all schools in the state would continue until the end of the school year.

And then the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association followed suit. Without the student athletes physically in the buildings, there could be no spring sports. That means no baseball, softball, boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls tennis, boys volleyball and boys and girls outdoor track seasons.

The NHIAA quickly issued a statement.

“In response to the recent Executive Order by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu to continue remote instruction in New Hampshire schools throughout the remainder of the school year, the NHIAA Council has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 spring sports season and championships.”

It was tough news for athletic directors, coaches, and athletes alike.

“We’re all a little numb right now,” Guertin athletic director Pete Paladino said. “We kind of expected it, but we ust didn’t want to hear it.”

“I don’t think it was a surprise,” Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras said. “I don’t think it was feasible for the Governor to say the schools won’t be open but you could have spring sports too.”

The hope expressed by NHIAA Executive Director Jeff Collins two weeks ago was that some part of the spring season could be salvaged, even it were a couple of games before open tournaments in all sports if the schools re-opened as originally hoped on May 4. The NHIAA planned on a May 13 start to the game season.

“There was no way Jeff could say, ‘I don’t care, we just want to play,'” Paladino said. “How are you going to put kids on a bus, on the sidelines, cheek to cheek in some cases.”

The NHIAA, as per its statement, agreed.

“This decision was not made lightly given what athletics mean to the participants, parents, and communities across the state,” it said. “While it was our hope to salvage some portion of the spring season, the fact that schools will not reopen their doors to students this year and the uncertainty surrounding when or if social distancing guidelines will be lifted has made us face the stark reality that playing high school sports this spring is simply not an option.

“Rather, our focus in these most uncertain times must be to do everything we can to protect people from the pandemic and not contribute to the numbers who fall victim to the disease.”

Area coaches simply took the somber but realistic view.

“Definitely disappointed, but I get it,” Nashua North baseball coach Zach Harris said. “I totally get it. … The last thing you want to see is everyone go back to things as normal and then have this (virus) come back and we have start with this all over again.”

Harris felt the timing was right, rather than drag things on and hold on to false hope.

“Now’s the time to make the decision to say ‘This is what it’s going to be,'” he said. “If you put it off, and keep going, you give the kids hope that’s not there.”

Of course, the focus for a lot of the coaches and athletic directors is on the seniors, who don’t have a 2021 high school season to look forward to. Maciejewski had about five she felt would be on her roster, including two starters. Harris at North felt he would have as many as four, two expecting to start. Nashua South coach James Gaj said he likely would have had seven, with two already set to play in college next spring, pitcher Andres Hulfachor at Clark and infielder Roy Santiago at Fitchburg Sate. “It’s the seniors who it will hit the hardest,” Gaj said.

The NHIAA statement adressed that as well.

“We recognize and share in the pain and heartbreak this decision will cause to all student-athletes this spring, particularly the seniors,” the NHIAA said.

But both Harris and Gaj are also concerned about the juniors, who would be getting full looks from college coaches.

“This is their recruiting season,” Gaj said. “Our center fielder, Chris Keefe, he’s an athlete, also a quarterback. A kid like that would’ve gotten great exposure.”

“We have a real big junior class,” Harris said. “That third year is a huge year, not only for development and stepping into leadership roles but also for colleges to come and see them play. Junior year is really their year.”

So now what? Now the focus shifts to looking ahead to the fall, with the hope that schools can resume normal class and normal extra curricular activities, including sports.

But Gingras said it starts way before then, as fall athletes need to be able to have access to school facilities in some instances to work out and prepare for the fall.

“It’s heartbreaking and tough all the way around,” said Gingras, who just last week oversaw the move of the Nashua Hall of Fame induction ceremony from early May to Oct. 25. “We hope that fall sports and the start of the new school year can start as normal. And that’s the next question.

“At what point do the schools open up? The camps open up?Fields open up? The weight rooms can open?All of those things. You want to make sure the kids can compete, but also that they are physically ready to play so you don’t see a lot of injuries when they do get back out there.”

The NHIAA is hoping cancelling the spring season is a preventative measure to pave the way for a return to a healthy fall season.

“It is our sincere hope that the actions taken (Thursday), along with the Governor’s orders and DHHS guidelines designed to slow the spread of this global pandemic will enable schools to reopen this fall,” its statement said, “with face-to-face instruction and a full slate of athletic contests to be played and enjoyed by all.”

But right now, no one is enjoying anything. Paladino contacted his coaches late Thursday afternoon, and Gingras will hold a Zoom meeting with her coaches on Monday. Gaj is expecting to have a zoom meeting with his players today.

And, as we know, Maciejewski had hers. Both she and Harris talked about having something in the summer, if medical guidelines allow, for their teams as, in the words of Harris, “have a little bit of closure.”

“This is unprecedented,” Maciejewski said. “It’s one of those things, everyone must be safe out there.

“But the one thing I keep saying to the girls is ‘This sucks.'”

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