Knock-knock. Anybody home?

If so, please open the door.

Nashua city officials, after some grumbling that had surfaced in the past couple of weeks, finally heard the knock at the door of the Park-Recreation Department controlled baseball and softball fields and are ready to let the youth ballplayers in. Nine at a time, of course, per the stipulations issued weeks ago by state officials.

But just about any field these days is looked at as a field of dreams. Why? Because for the better part of two-plus months, that’s all local youths and coaches could do was dream about going out and playing.

It seemed to take awhile for the city to get its act together on this. Sure, a lot of precautions needed to be taken, and you better believe safety is the number one issue.

But it’s been almost three weeks since New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu decreed that youth sports practices could begin in phases. No competition yet, but some basic practices could be held. Social distancing, etc.

That accelerated the efforts of local coaches Tim Lunn and Tom Walker to head up their leagues, the NHCBL and the NEIBL for youths generally in the 14-19 age group.

But the city-controlled fields in Nashua had remained closed. And it’s been the same in a lot of other communities. In some ways, it was baffling. In others, like in Nashua, it created a setting of the Haves and the Have Nots.

For example, Lunn, a teacher and a coach at Bishop Guertin, had the inside track to be granted permission from the school’s administration to use Elliott Field. Nashua has a team in his NHCBL (Senior Legion equivalent, but no Legion affiliation for those of you just finding out about it) and another team that’s a Junior Legion equivalent in the expanded NEIBL. We know, there’s almost too many teams to keep track of.

Merrimack has a team in each, and another private field in the city, Harvey Woods Field, is suddenly a busy spot on the otherwise ghost town campus of the closed Daniel Webster College. Rivier University is maintaining the field now – Raiders pitching and associate head coach Louie Bernardini is the former DWC head coach – and a couple of groups are more or less renting time, including the Merrimack teams in both leagues.

Mike Henzley, in charge of both, is a former Eagles longtime assistant coach and DWC alum. Heck, he helped build and maintain the field, for crying out loud.

The biggest Have Nots in all of this have been the Nashua Chiefs. Yes, the former Senior Babe Ruth entity still exists; it’s been playing in the smaller version of the NEIBL over the last few years. But when Chiefs coach Mike Coy tried in earlier attempts before the city’s Wednesday announcement allowing field use, he ran into a wall more solid than the brick at Holman Stadium.

Thus the Chiefs looked like they wouldn’t play this summer. They couldn’t afford to rent a field, they had no connections.

But when there’s a will there’s a way.

“I hadn’t given up hope yet,” Coy said, and stayed involved in the NEIBL coaches Zoom meetings on Thursdays. “I sent out a generic text to the players and the interest level was still there. I may not have the 18-20 I would’ve had, but I have enough to field a team.”

And thus, when he got a call Thursday telling him that way may now be paved, he was ecstatic.

“No doubt about it,” he said. “I felt like my hands had been tied.”

A lot of hands have been tied through all this. Fields are like gold right now; heck, Walker’s Souhegan entry heads to a complex in Goffstown for its workouts. But that’s next door compared to the NEIBL Weare entry coming down to use the same facility. Amazing. That’s what we call a commute.

These are uncharted waters. Safety, safety, safety should still be the emphasis. But in Nashua, and maybe other communities, the frustration among baseball people was building. Especially when you see other things, including beaches, open up with proper restrictions, it was hard to imagine why nine kids in teen years or even younger couldn’t be on a diamond. Especially when the state gave that idea its specific blessing weeks ago.

“A lot of kids this age need baseball,” Coy said, “a lot more than baseball needs them.”

Tom King may be reached at 594-1251 or tking@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow King on Twitter (@Telegraph_TomK).

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