Telegraph photo by TOM KING Rivier University softball players never got to enjoy the new dugouts at their rennovated field as part of the Linda Robinson Pavilion complex, thanks to the coronavirus-related season cancellations.

NASHUA – It’s a steep climb up the hill to the brand new Linda Robinson Pavilion on the campus of Rivier Univeristy, but two weeks ago on Friday the 13th, the walk seemed like a struggle up Mount Everest for some Raider baseball players.

A.J. Mele, along with some of his Rivier teammates, all had a pretty good idea what was waiting for them at the top – the end of their season.

“We got a text saying there would be a 9 a.m.meeting,” Mele, a former Nashua High School South player, said. “We said, ‘This has to be it.'”

The meeting was called by Raiders baseball coach Anthony Perry in one of the locker rooms. The players were told their season was over thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Perry followed through on his promise, telling the players that as soon as he knew, they’d know.

Happy Friday the 13th.

Earlier in the day, the Great Northeast Athletic Conference shut down its spring season for all sports.

“We kind of realized that it was in troubl e when some of the teams we were playing were cancelling their seasons,” Riv senior infielder Tyler Jackson said. “Nobody wanted to accept it at first.

“But once we got the word it was done, it was real.”

Riv AD Joanne Merrill, while recently cleaning her office for the first time in ages thanks to the free time, basically put it in its purest form.

“We’ve got nothing,” she said. “Officially, nothing, we’re done. Pack it up, walk it up, go home. …It was like lights out, dno dimmer switch. You’re done. It’s like a kick in a gut.”

And the reality was tough to accept for all the teams at Rivier – men’s and women’s lacrosse, baseball, softball, and men’s volleyball.

Jackson, Mele and the rest of their teammates had played in 10 games, having returned a week earlier from a seven-game trip to Fort Meyers, Fla.

“At first I was surprised,” Perry said of the shutdown. “But then I saw the NBA cancelled, and I knew, ‘Here it comes.'”

The team’s last game ironically was at Amherst College, coached by former Daniel Webster coach J.P.Pyne. It was an impromptu game on March 10 that came about ironically because Amherst’s Florida trip was called off.

Men’s lacrosse had played five games, going 3-2, but had just two home games at its revamped facility at Joanne Merrill Field. Women’s lacrosse had played two games.

Softball had played nine games in a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., but had yet to play on its new lighted revamped field with new dugouts, warmup areas, and press box. They were supposed to have their opener that Sunday, two days after the plug was pulled. An alumni game was played there in the fall, but no varsity players played.

“It’s good the alumni got a chance to play on it, but we haven’t played on it in two years,” Raiders coach Mike Holloran said. “Last year it was being worked on and now this.”

“There’s the definition of irony right there,” Merrill said. “The first year we had had (until last week) no snow. They would’ve been on that field, it was good to go. And next year we’ll have three feet in March.”

Instead the team went up to the field one last night, had a uniformed intersquad scrimmage, with flowers for the seniors – and tears.

“Lots of tears,” Merrill said. “We knew it was coming,” Merrill said. “Once the NCAA cancelled everything.

“For everybody. Your freshman year is totally ruined, and your senior year. The only thing we could tell them is you’re not alone.”

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Men’s lacrosse has been a playoff contender in past years and likely would have had a post season return. But the team that may have had the most heartache was men’s volleyball.

The Raiders were defending GNAC champions, and looked to repeat and return to the NCAA Division III tournament next month. Men’s volleyball, though technically a spring sports, starts its schedule in late January and were 12-4, 5-0 in the GNAC, and had enjoyed a national ranking at one point.

“This was a good team,” Raiders coach Craig Kolek, who is also the school’s assistant AD. “It was like a punch in the gut.”

Ironically, the Raiders hadn’t played a game in two weeks when things ended. They had no games slated during spring break, and then were supposed to compete in a tournament at New Paltz, N.Y. – about 80 miles north of New York City, which had just begun to get slammed by the virus. At first, the matches were supposed to be played with no fans, but then were cancelled.

“We were ‘OK, no fans,” Kolek said. “Then it came across the wires that the NCAA was cancelling March Madness. Then it kind of crept into my head we weren’t going to finish.”

The Raiders were supposed to head out that Friday morning at 11. Instead, Kolek had a practice, but knew what he would have to tell his players when practice was over.

“We kind of talked about things,” he said. “Everybody didn’t really understand how impactful the virus was going to be, thinking about themselves and the season.

“So we talked about about sacrifice for the greater good is what we do every day, and this is when we had to do it at the expense of our season.”

“Everyone didn’t want to accept it,” said Raider Francis Kokoros, one of four seniors, three of whom had played four years under Kolek. “We tried to have a positive mindset. We were all thinking it was going to get cancelled, anyway, but I think the mood (that day) was somber. You were just trying to wrap your head around it.”

Kolek texted a long message in the last week to the players, with both inspirational and advisory, advising them to not sit around but make the days count. It included a COVID-19 checklist. C stood for “Call. Call teammates. Call future teammates, call family. Stay connected.”

Especially in a time of great disconnect.

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Merrill was home for a weekend instead of overseeing a slew of games, and said to her husband, “This must be what normal people do.”

“It’s bizarre,” she said. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

Athletes are now home, waiting to see if they can come back to campus, while studying on line. “I’m more of a classroom guy,” Mele said. “This is like teaching yourself.”

Perhaps the longest trip home was by baseball’s Marika Lyszczyk, who made history in this mini season as Rivier’s first female baseball player. She hails from the Vancouver area. “She had to leave right away, before the border closed,” Merrill said. She played in seven games, with a hit in ine at-bats.

Could things stretch into the fall? The hope of course is no. Women’s soccer, Merrill said, has a trip to Spain and France in August, but as Merrill said, “They’d have to make a decision really soon, so they can get some money back.”

And Merrill said the school will likely make the decision for the athletic department.

The Raiders are also looking to hire a combined women’s lacrosse and field hockey coach in time for the fall. Merrill was just in the process of posting the position – but she realizes candidates likely can’t come on campus and the interviews will have to be done electronically, and without students being able to be part of the interview committee process or at least meet the candidates.

What about recruiting? Certainly coaches can’t bring recruits on campus, or see them play games, but there’s other ways.

“We’re in the new age,” Perry said. “It’s 2020. Every (athlete) has film of themselves. But when I go to to watch a player, I go to see how they interact with their coach, how they interact with their teammates. If they go 0 for 3 with three strikeouts, how do they react? That’s the challenging part.”

The NCAA is expected – it’s not official – to grant an extra year of athletic eligibility to all the spring athletes in all three divisions.

“At least there’s that opportunity,” Merrill said. “It doesn’t help the seniors, unless they want to come back and work on another degree. It helps a little bit. We’ve got a couple of players because they transferred last year, this would’ve been their last year. They’re coming back anyway because they’re not finished with their degree, so that helps them.”

Maybe one or two of the four men’s volleyball seniors could come back, but as Kokoros said, it will be too expensive to return. Instead, he’s applied to the University of East London for grad school, and hopes to play volleyball there.

But he left the Rivier campus with a heavy heart.

“It just sucks for us,” he said, because we were so good.”

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